


Voltron and the Crystal of Balmera

by Bananza_Milkshakez



Series: Voltron: Harry Potter AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Don't Judge Me, F/F, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Human Shay (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hunk (Voltron) is a Ray of Sunshine, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Keith and Lance hate each other at the beginning, M/M, My First Fanfic, POV Lance (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, Promise?, Tags Are Fun, Tags Are Hard, but it gets better, hunk is life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-11 04:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15964721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bananza_Milkshakez/pseuds/Bananza_Milkshakez
Summary: It's our Paladins first year at Hogwarts! Gee, what could go wrong? Turns out, everything!When Lance gets his Hogwarts letter, he expects a relaxing year at school, but he soon starts a rivalry with the star student and he has to save the world at the pitiful age of 11.





	1. Three Wands of a Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting accepted to Hogwarts, Lance meets his soon-to-be friends Hunk at Diagon Ally and sees a specific raven haired boy.

“Lance, Despierta! Your letter came!”

Lance hadn’t even realised older sister nudging him awake in an excited voice. When she spoke English, she spoke with a slight lisp that made her voice that much more endearing. Lance blinked his eyes open to be met with her wavy brown hair and her eyes staring down at him, wide. She had the same matching brown eyes that Lance had, maybe a little more tired around the edges but there was a spark that seemed to run in the family. She was a 12-year old that seemed like she was 17 on the inside. She was grinning from ear to ear, but she was trying to keep it quiet. Lance quickly glanced at the clock, it was 4 in the morning. He was already a good four hours into him being 11 years old. He grinned to himself before quickly sitting up.

“I need to get changed unless you want to see something you don’t want to see.” Lance stuck his tongue out. Veronica rolled her eyes and headed out of the room. Lance quickly had his shower and changed into clean clothes. Even if it was 4 in the morning, he had an idea that he would be up for most of the day. He trudged down the stairs, trying to not let the stairs creak. But it was in vain as the rest of his family was already in the living room. He rolled his eyes, not bothering to be quiet anymore, he stomped over to the couch and waited patiently whilst looking around.

On the recliner sat his mother. She wasn’t as old as her looks spoke her to be, she was heavenly young for a mother. However, years of grief over her husband had changed her to be a little more frail around the edges and weak to whatever emotions would undertake her. She had brown hair, but not the famous McClain hair, her’s were a good two shades darker. Her eyes were lit with happiness as if she could already tell he was going to be accepted to Hogwarts.

On the floor, sitting between her legs was Lance’s younger brother: Luis. He was only a year younger than him, and he had his mum’s dark hair but the same eyes as Lance and Veronica’s. His mouth was forever twisted into a scowl and his expression bore a look that said he wanted to go back to bed. But Lance knew that he was just as excited as the rest of them. Luis had taken the most impact when their father died for whatever reason and it had changed him from a daisy-picking toddler to a morbid boy that would glare at Lance during breakfast.  
Their father wasn’t there.

That was simply because of murder. When Lance was 6 years old, Lord Zarkon had broken into their house at an attempt of murder. He was there for Lance. He was visibly weak, the rumours had been said that he wouldn’t show until he was strong enough, and those rumours started after he was born. No one had expected Lord Zarkon to try and attempt to kill a 6-year-old boy. Their father had died a heroic death at saving Lance and Lord Zarkon hadn’t been seen since.

Veronica was holding the golden envelope that held the answer to their question: Was Lance accepted?

“Hurry up and give it to him, I want to go back to bed.” Luis groaned.

“Be nice to your older brother, Lu,” Their mother scolded, “When you’re in his position, you’d be just as excited.”

“Whatever, hurry before I change my mind,” Luis grumbled. Their mother smiled softly and let her fingers wind and unwind Luis’ hair. It seemed to soothe in as he relaxed a little, his tense shoulders sagging a fraction. He even had a small smile playing on his face.

“Mama’s boy,” Lance teased, “You always were! Remember when he would pee out of nowhere to impress her?”

“God, Lance!” Veronica sighed, “I thought we were over this topic a week ago! Your brother doesn’t need to be reminded of his failures,” She winked at a flushing Luis. Lance didn’t know whether it was because of his anger or embarrassment. Lance would like to think that it would be the latter. “Drum roll please!” Luis rolled his eyes before patting his lap at a rapid pace, so did their mother on Luis’ head. Veronica placed the envelope on Lance’s lap. He tore it open, not bothering to savour the moment.

_Dear Mr McClain,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._  
_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._  
_Yours sincerely,_

_Allura Quinn, The Deputy Head_

Luis raised an eyebrow at him, expecting an answer. “Let me guess, you weren’t accepted,” His voice was challenging. Where did this kid get off from picking a fight with him? Lance yearned for the old Luis to come back but this Luis was the one he had left. And he had learnt to adapt over the years, growing to love this Luis. He always expected these jabs but couldn’t keep away those huffs of annoyment. But he loved his brother, both types of him. He just wasn’t sure the feeling was mutual.

Lance feigned a sullen look. He heard his mother suck in a breath and Luis actually hiss in annoyance. Veronica frowned and looked over his shoulder at the letter and whacked him on the head. “He’s messing with you. He’s so accepted unless I need glasses.” Veronica smiled. Luis glared at him, evident that he didn’t like Lance’s miniature joke. Their mother, Irene, let out a breath of relief. Her eyes were alight, smiling from ear to ear.

“Today will be for celebrating,” Irene announced, “Tomorrow will be shopping for supplies!”

  
♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

   
The rest of the previous day had consisted of playful banter and eating pizza. Luis had decided to gift them with his presence for the entire day and even cracked a few smiles. Lance couldn’t help but feel excited for today, though. It might not have the same homely feeling to it, but there was a thrill to it. He was plunging in headfirst into a crowd of witches and wizards, just like him! Most were shopping for school supplies but other adults were shopping for home. He even spotted a woman trying to heave a couch out of a shop before just using her wand to minimise it.

He couldn’t wait to be able to do that.

“Lance,” His mother held him by his shoulder, “I can’t go with you to your shops but I’ll try to catch up with you to get you your wand.” Lance gave her a questioning look, “Your younger brother hasn’t been feeling too well for the past couple days, must be a bug.” Lance could feel a little plummeting feeling. Luis was fragile, even if he acted against that, he was as fragile as a baby. He would often catch colds and wouldn’t stop crying as an infant. Lance hoped it wasn’t anything too bad, he didn’t want his brother to catch anything too nasty. “I’m going to the doctor to get a checkup.”

“Get it fast,” Lance said for Luis’ health, “But please make sure to come for my wand, you know how important that is!” Lance said, a little whine coming through his tone. Getting a wand was an important time for an aspiring witch or wizard, it was like a coming of age type of thing. “What about Veronica? Is she going to just ditch me?”

“Yes, as much as I love you, I promised to meet my friends here. And I don’t want you to annoy them, you’re such a pain,” Veronica said teasingly before dashing off.

Lance shrugged before waving bye to the rest of his family and wandering off. He had the list in his hand for things he needed. He bought his books swiftly, ordered all his equipment, bought his gloves, and arrived at Madam Malkin’s shop to get fitted for his robes. He spotted a large, tanned boy sitting on a waiting chair. He was nervously glancing around and locked eyes with Lance. The Cuban grinned at him and went to sit next to him.

“What are you doing all alone, man?” Lance asked.

“My family kind of ditched me, I guess,” The boy said, “I think they think that I must be buff enough to protect myself here.” He said sarcastically.

“I don’t know, dude,” Lance said, “I’m feeling some shivers running down my spine by just sitting with you,” He faked one.

The boy rolled his eyes and laughed, “I think that’s because of the fact you’re sitting by an open window,” He said, “My name is Hunk, by the way.”

“I’m going to assume that’s not a nickname,” Lance guessed.

“You’re right, it’s not,” Hunk smiled, “I guess my family wanted me to be really strong and stuff? I don’t know, by the way, I’m going, maybe a wrestler or something.” He had a slight accent to his voice that made his words that ended with ‘ng’ just end with ‘n’ like Lance often does. He smiled at the thought.

“I wouldn’t want to be put in a ring with you,” Lance said, “That’s for sure, the name’s Lance.”

“You’re only 11, how do you already sound so brave?” Hunk asked.

“It’s called having a sibling so closed in age,” Lance said, “You have to fight to the death for everything. I doubt most people have that problem but my brother says I give him weird vibes of competitions. My sister just thinks it’s fun. I don’t, I’d like to get my breakfast without having water down my boxers.”

“I’m lucky to be an only child, then,” Hunk said in something that sounded like relief, “She’s calling us for the fitting,” Hunk said. “I bet she’s going to finish with me first,”  
“Nuh uh,” Lance said, getting off his chair and darting off, “It will be me first!”

  
♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

  
It turns out Hunk was out first because one of the workers was fussing about the fact that Lance was too tall to be 11 but too short to be 13, so she had to find the template for a 12-year-old and fit them on him. Hunk was just the average height of an 11-year old that he didn’t have to wait that long. Lance was a little smug about the fact that he was taller. Lance had told the woman to make him 3 sets and send it to his address. He had to remind Hunk to do it as it seemed he forgot.

“Wand?” Lance asked.

“Wand,” Hunk confirmed.

“I have a feeling that it would take the guy a lot of tries to get me my wand,” Lance said.

“I have a feeling he’d get mine on the first go,” Hunk said, “I’m a simple dude, so I think it will be fine.” He said as they entered Ollivanders.

Okay, so Veronica was right. She had said that Ollivander had this creepy vibe going about him and Lance was so not immune to it and neither was Hunk. However, they had to wait again as there was another boy getting a wand. He had raven hair and pale skin, though Lance could tell that Hogwarts was going to give him a heavy tan by the end of the year, he had questioning eyes - Holy crap! Were they violet? - and as clearly annoyed that Ollivander wasn’t getting his wand out quick enough.

Another man stood next to him, he had salt and pepper hair with a thin scar over the bridge of his nose. He was tall and broad shoulders, his face held an expression of pride. Lance recognised him immediately. “Isn’t that Takashi Shirogane?” He asked Hunk in a low whisper. The man was a legend to Lance, he had attended Hogwarts, was a prefect and then a Head Boy, won the Quidditch cup for Gryffindor every year and won the most points for his year when he was attending Hogwarts.

“I didn’t know he had a kid!” Hunk said in disbelief.

“Maybe he’s a nephew? Shiro’s too young for a kid that age,” Lance reasoned.

“Dude, they kind of look alike, though,” Hunk reason.

“No, that’s your imagination,” Lance said.

“Then my imagination must be hot,” Hunk teased.

There was a flash of light and a bang that sent Lance’s eyes towards the boy. His face was black with ashes and his delicate face was obviously unimpressed. “Shiro,” The boy stuttered out, he was clearly nervous and worried, “What if I don’t get a wand?”

Now Lance found that impossible. Everybody had a wand, or a handed down one. But there was always a specific wand for everyone's soul. His wand hunt must not be going successfully if he had to say something that morbid.

“What if this just some big mistake? Or a prank by Derick? Or-” He was cut off by the store owner.

“I might have an idea, though it is a long way off from what I first thought, wait here a moment,” He disappeared off to the left.

The boy seemed to have noticed Lance and Hunk and quickly hurried over to hide behind Shiro. Lance was a slight bit unnerved by that, did they look like they weren’t friendly? Or was the boy just plain terrified of everything?

“Keith, that’s rude,” Shiro murmured, “You can go talk to them, they should be nice,”

“Here!” Ollivander cried out as he plopped a box on the counter. It was worn on the edges and it had a thin layer of dust that coated it like a shield. Tufts of dust floated into the air, visible by the light, and Ollivander waved his hand to move them away from his face. He opened the box and out came a beautiful wand. It was a rich brown with swirls for a hand grip, the wand narrowing as a whole to a point at the end. “Now say Lumos,” Ollivander said to Keith as he handed the wand to the boy.

Keith softly murmured, “Lumos,” He was clearly surprised that the tip of his wand glowed a vibrant white.

“Now say Nox,” Ollivander said, itching his cheek in confusion.

“Nox,” Keith said, his voice was deep yet melodic and it echoed throughout the shop. The wand dimmed to a stop and Keith slowly broke at to a smile. He looked at Shiro in excitement and Shiro returned the smile. Lance had a small ache, he wanted to have a fatherly figure like that. But he couldn’t hold it against Keith for knowing his all-time idol. “What kind of wand is it?” Keith asked in wonder.

“Mahogany wood, finely carved, 7 inches and a phoenix tail feather core,” Ollivander said softly. Keith nodded and went out of the shop with Shiro with the biggest smile on his face. “Dear me, that took half an hour!” What? “One of you, please step up!” Hunk took a deep breath and stepped forth. “My boy, I got the perfect wand for you!” He didn’t go so far and pulled out a new box that didn’t look that old and quickly discarded Keith’s box. Hunk took the box and smiled.

The wand was tinted red with velvet for a grip, it was narrowing to a tip just like Keith’s but it looked a little bulkier and longer. “Lumos,” He whispered and whispered “Nox,” When it lit up. It was a success. “You owe me some chocolate frogs for me winning that bet of ours,” He said. “What’s the wand?” He asked.

“Finely carved, a cherry wood wand that is 8 inches and has veela hair for the core,”

“You have to wait a sec,” Lance said, “Who says mine won’t take a long time like I said?” Hunk gave him a raised eyebrow. He was clearly thinking that Lance was just wanting attention, or at least teasing him on it. “Oh, piss off,” Lance muttered as he went up to the counter. Hunk just laughed and stood with him by the counter.

“You might be a little hard to find,” Ollivander muttered. Lance gave a triumphant smirk to Hunk which Hunk rolled his eyes at. Though he wasn’t smirking much as the seconds to minutes and they had been at the shop for half an hour. “Maybe this one,” Ollivander said a little sceptically. He headed to the section where he had gotten Keith’s wand and arrived with an equally dusty box. Lance took it and marvelled at it.

This wand felt right and looked right to his taste. The white wood was a shocking contrast to his skin but Lance was one for being the one in the spotlight so he didn’t mind, and there were matching swirls to Keith’s on the grip. The wand narrowed to the top and looked just as thin as Keith’s. It was, however, very long. It was the almost the size of a full 30cm ruler. It must be around 10 inches!

“Lumos,” He said firmly, he really wanted this one to be his. The wand seemed to agree as it lit to a brilliant blaze of white. It must have been because of the intensity of how he said the spell. “Nox,” He said in a breathy voice. “Dude, what is it made of? What’s the core?” Lance said excitedly to Ollivander.  
“Don’t sound too familiar with me,” He said stiffly, “It’s finely carved, made of holly wood, it is 11 inches and has a phoenix tail feather core.” He was close with the size, at least. “This is interesting,” He said.

“Dude, stop beating around the bush, it’s almost our bedtime, we’re 11, remember?” Lance said.

“And this guy owes me chocolate frogs!” Hunk said. “Well, I also owe him a packet, but, still!”

“Well,” Ollivander said, “The Phoenix that gave their feather for young Lance’s wand also gave out two more feathers for two more wands. One was given to Keith,” Lance couldn’t hide the shock, though it should have been obvious from when Ollivander had mention Keith’s wand having a phoenix tail feather core as well, “And one was given to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,” He said softly.

“Dude, let’s go, this guy is freaking me out,” Hunk said.

“When I see you next, you better not be this jittery,” Lance whispered to him.

“It’s not my fault I woke up to water on my face,” Hunk said.

“It probably was,” Lance said.

   
♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 


	2. The Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance seems to have made a new enemy along with being sorted! Well, at least he has Hunk and-wait? Who's this? Pidge!?

As soon as they were done with their load of shopping, Hunk and Lance had exchanged numbers.

Now, the wizarding world had nothing against muggle devices, as long as their family owned an owl to contact wizarding folk. Though, the problem was, Veronica had the only owl in the family and that was about it. Lance had to get by with a phone to contact his friends, but it was 2018, so what? Hunk seemed to have the same problem, however his family owl was sickly and couldn’t even fly for thirty seconds. At the moment, it was the night before the big day of his first day of Hogwarts. Hunk was staying over at his house and they were both currently in the kitchen with Veronica.

“I bake when I’m nervous,” Hunk said as he was helping Veronica place the cake in the oven. Lance was just sitting on a barstool by the counter, he was a travesty in the kitchen. Veronica was decent, Hunk was on a different level. The other two were leaning on the counter and facing Lance.

“Then your house must be loaded!” Lance said with dreamy eyes. His mouth watered at the idea full of baked goods and gourmet meals. The dude’s food was legendary. And all 11-year-old Lance had to think about was food, homework was about to come up and he wasn’t going to be happy about that. Food was a healthy thing to think about. Especially when Veronica and Hunk were tag teaming. Whenever Hunk came over and baked with Veronica, it was like a dream. Lance just wanted Hunk to stay in their damn house. Though, he did live near, just around the corner!

“Har, har, Lance,” Hunk said, “But I know you’d love my house, I’m so lucky we live near each other!”. Hunk was a few months older than Lance, his birthday was all the way back in January and was just putting off shopping until last month. Lance’s birthday was back in July, the day before the two had met.

“Or how else are you going to see the great and magnificent Lance?” He smirked.

“Is it healthy to think like that?” Hunk mused.

“Mhh, what’s that?” Luis said as he walked into the kitchen. He was rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand as he had clearly just awoken from a long deserved nap. He trudged over to the barstool next to Lance and his face registered the people there. “Oh! Hunk! You’re baking!” He said with delight.

“I can tell who he’s going to miss over the course of the year,” Veronica teased as Lance scoffed.

“Oh, come on, he’s going to miss Lance too,” Hunk said, “Well, as much as you can miss someone as annoying as him.”. Though the dude was nervous to the core, he was blunt and sarcastic to the bone. They surprisingly went well together, the two types of his behaviour. They sometimes even happened at the same time.

“Face it, who’d miss him?” Luis asked.

Everyone but Lance laughed.

“Har, har,” Lance said with an evident scowl that made everyone else laugh, “That just means I won’t bring you anything back,” He lied convincingly.

“Oh, come on!” Luis said peevishly, “You have too!”

“Beg.” Lance smirked.

“Nope, no, no, nope!” Luis snapped and jumped out of his barstool. “Hunk, call me down when the cake is ready!” And he stomped off.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“Lance, Hunk! GET UP!” Veronica yelled.

Lance jolted to a sitting position and looked to his right. Hunk was also in the same position, though he still looked slightly tired and dazed as if he hadn’t realised today was a big day. He seemed to realise what was going on and his eyes widened like he couldn’t believe this was actually happening. He was also muttering something about alarm clocks.

“Dude, I’m taking my phone to school,” Lance said and Hunk nodded in agreement. The problem with owls at school was the fact that it was hard to keep a conversation going with someone when you can only say so much in a letter that arrives once every morning. Phones were something you can use and Hogwarts wouldn’t damn well expect it. They blocked magical communication, not texting or phoning or emailing! He could talk to Hunk all night if he wanted to!

They both quickly changed into their robes after a shower and ran downstairs for breakfast. It was left over cake and they finished it off in a clean sweep. They quickly took their trunks into the van and a duffel bag of weekend clothes in there too. Their mother was in the driver’s seat, Veronica sat shotgun, Luis sat at the back left, Hunk in the middle, with Lance on the right. They were all singing off key to popular song in both muggle and shoving each other to get more space and take the blanket.

They passed into Platform 9 ¾.

Luis was staring at the steam engine in awe.

So was Lance.

He had always seen the damn train because of his sister and never had the chance to step on the thing. Now it was his chance. He could finally sit on this majestic old looking train and go to Hogwarts. Thought, it was only just a train. It shouldn’t be this anxiety inducing and giving him an excited thrill at the same time.

“Lance, remember, I’ll always love you, no matter the house you get Sorted into,” Irene said. Lance had always feared he wouldn’t get into Gryffindor, McClains were famous for getting into that house and marrying people from that house. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to carry on the tradition.

“Nah, ma, it’s okay, I’m over that!” Lance lied.

His mother gave him a knowing look before kissing his cheek. Luis stepped up to bid him farewell. He wasn’t one for mushy goodbyes but this would be the first time they’d be separated for almost a whole year. Luis’ eyes refused to meet Lance’s and he was holding a scowl to his lips. His mop of brown curly hair blew in the wind, and he looked adorable. He finally looked at Lance and hugged him. He was shorter than Lance so his forehead reached Lance’s shoulder so he rested it there. His long fingers curled into Lance’s robes and Lance did the same. As fast as the embrace started, it had ended. Luis was going to Veronica.

“LANCE!”

He turned around to see Hunk barrelling towards him. The boy was clearly out of breath but made the effort to catch up to him. He paused right next to Lance and tried to catch his breath. “You okay there, buddy?” Lance asked, worry seeping into his voice.

“Yeah, yeah, totally,” Hunk muttered, “I just said bye to my family, ready to go in?”

“I was born ready,” Lance said.

“I was born crying,” Hunk said.

“Isn’t everybody?” Lance asked, confused.

“But you just said you were born ready, not crying,” Hunk raised an eyebrow. Lance rolled his eyes and stepped into the train, Hunk already on his heels. They walked through the narrow corridor, looking for a booth to sit in.

“I WILL NOT SIT WITH YOU MATT! NOT EVEN FOR A BAJILLION POUNDS!”

Lance raised his eyebrow at the sight. There was a very young girl, probably not even 11 yet, and she was yelling at someone who was evidently _much_ older than her. They both were clearly related, Lance could tell. They both had the same short brown hair, though much lighter than Lance’s, and they were pale with freckles. Both wore matching glasses, how adorable!

“Pidge, keep to sound down!” Matt said, “Come on, please!”

“NOPE!” She made the effort to be even louder.

“Is there a problem here?” Lance asked.

“I think it’s quite obvious there is,” Hunk and the girl said, though the girl yelled it. “My dumb brother wants me to sit with him at the teacher’s carriage! That is so lame! Seriously!”

“Yeah, I gotta admit, that’s so sad,” Lance agreed. Matt visibly deflated. “Dude, maybe if you weren't a teacher? It’s just the fact that you’re a teacher and sitting with you gives you bad street cred,”

“As long as she sits with you guys, she’s not my problem anymore,” Matt said and walked off.

“Cool, come on, then!” Pidge said, clearly happy at winning the argument. She skipped over to an empty booth and settled on the window seat. Hunk sat next to her and Lance sat on the other side. “I’m Katie Holt, though if you call me that, prepare for this conversation and friendship to die.” She said. Lance couldn’t help but see how intense she was. The way she looked even seemed intense. Everything was so damn intense at the moment.

“Then what do we call you?” Hunk asked.

“Pidge, Matt calls me that,” Pidge said.

“Thank you, Pidgeon!” Lance said.

“I said Pidge,” She said, though she didn’t seem too upset about it.

“Same thing,” Lance joked. “The name’s Lance,”

“And Hunk,” He supplied. “And it’s not a nickname. Just a cruel joke by the universe.” He said. He didn’t seem to believe in what he was saying because it was clearly intended to be a joke.

“I don’t see why it has to be a joke,” Pidge said, “You can be buff if you want to.”

“Imagine!” Lance said. “A buff 11-year-old!”

“This might be the time to say that I’m 10,” Pidge said, “They accepted me because I have exceptionally high grades.”

“We have a nerd in our midst!” Lance said.

“I think I’m more sided towards the geek side, to be honest.” She said. Her voice was much softer now, she was no longer screaming or yelling or looking at them with blazing eyes. But Lance knew that they would come back at any moment.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

Once they were all seated in the hall, Lance looked around. This was his first damn day at Hogwarts and his smile would not wear off! The ceiling was bewitched to give a real time view of the sky above: Stars on end. Lance had to admit, he had a kind of thing for stars. He knew at that moment he would love Hogwarts at night. At home, he could barely see the stars in the sky because of muggle pollution. Here, every star was so pronounced that he didn’t know whether the biggest light was one star or many in a cluster.

When he looked towards the teacher’s table, his eyes widened. Takashi Shirogane was there! And in the headmaster’s seat! Since when was this a thing! His mother worked in the Ministry of Magic and didn’t care to give him a heads up? He choked on air and Hunk helped him get through out. The other teachers were easily recognisable. The teacher with the long, billowing hair must have been Allura! She was all over the news too! And next to her was her uncle Coran, though Lance couldn’t tell how old he was though he looked about the same age as Allura. Or maybe older? Lance couldn’t tell.

His eyes skipped over to the very last teacher, the potions teacher. She was wearing a very thick purple robe that covered most of her face. From what Lance could see, her figure was quite boney and her face was pinched with a sour look. Her eyes, where the whites should have been, were a yellow Lance had seen before. Lance returned the sour look that she gave him and turned back to Hunk.

The dude looked just about ready to hurl to Lance moved his seat a little back and rubbed soothing shaped onto Hunk’s back. The guy gave him a weak smile before muttering things under his breath. Lance’s eyes wandered through the hall once more.

Keith was sitting alone at a table, his small fingers tracing the swirls on his wand’s handle. His eyebrows were pinched together, his teeth worrying at his bottom lip. He then switched to grinding his teeth, like he was trying to shove his thoughts away from his head and focus. His eyes trained in determination at the teacher’s table. His face looked angry, though from what Lance had seen before, it must have been an act.

Why should the poor kid have to act like this when he’s in this dream of a school?

Lance looked at the stage once more to see Allura pulling up a three-legged stool and was holding a tattered look hat. Veronica had said the hat had adapted to a more ‘modern’ vocabulary. Lance didn’t understand but he would soon! Whilst Allura was setting up, Shiro went up to give a speech.

“Thank you for all coming to this new year at Hogwarts!” He said in a clear voice. “I’m happy to announce that I am the new Headmaster. Must of you must be shocked, I’d be confused if you weren’t.” His face turned sullen. “Our dear old Headmaster had past away…” Lance’s eyes flicked over to Allura who looked determined to carry on her work. She must be grieving on the inside. “I’d like to get started with the Sorting,” He said after clearing his throat, he must be hurting too. “Allura?”

“This is the Sorting Hat!” Allura announced, her voice a little shaky. She took an audible breath and continued with a winning fake smile. “I will announce you all one at a time and you will sit on this stool! I understand most students don’t like being called by their legal name and therefore, we will be using nicknames that you have emailed us with!” She said. Lance looked over to Pidge who grinned in relief. She must really not like that name.

“Pidge Holt!” Allura called. The registered mustn’t be in alphabetical order, maybe admittance order? Pidge gave then one more grin before charging towards the stage and sitting on the stool. Pidge was told them that she was hoping to get into Ravenclaw, not because her family was always in there, but because she had a pull to it. Allura placed the hat on Pidge’s head. It didn’t even touch her head fully before announcing:

“RAVENCLAW!”

Pidge beamed and a roar came from the Ravenclaw table. She gave a wink to Hunk and Lance and headed towards the Ravenclaw table. Twenty or more names got announced before:

“Hunk Garrett!”

Hunk stood up with a wobble and Lance knew it would just embarrass him if Lance tried to help him. Hunk gave a grimace before heading towards the stool. The hat was placed on his head. Hunk was always dreaming of heading into either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. He seemed to fit both. The dude was really smart but had the soft attitude of Hufflepuff. Though, Lance knew better than to stereotype Houses. But Hunk was that little inbetween place for both house. He might even fit into Gryffindor!

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

Hunk gave a smile of relief before heading towards the roaring table.

“Lance McClain!”

A few murmurs headed through the crowd. Here was the story Lance knew: Some other boy’s parent’s died because of Lord Zarkon. This happened when Lance’s birth occurred, and it was also the boy’s birth! Then, Lord Zarkon was rumoured to be laying low at his failure of killing his actual goal: the boy. Then, 6 years later, he appeared on Lance’s birthday to kill him! But his father sacrificed himself and Lord Zarkon was never heard of again.

Whenever Lance was offered attention, he’d eat it up. But, taking in this attention was painful. He’d never do it. He kept a straight face as he walked up towards the stool and sat on it. He saw his sister, Veronica, before the hat covered his eyes.

 _Damn, Slytherin?_ The Hat asked.

 _Is this was Veronica said when she said modern?_ Lance thought back.

 _Hell, yeah!_ The Hat said. _Yeet! This boi isn’t empty! Maybe Ravenclaw!_

 _Seriously? Yeet?_ Lance echoed back.

_Don’t judge the magical hat, dude. Maybe Hufflepuff? I see you can grow there, but, Gryffindor? Boi, I think I found a fit! Thought, you seemed to be Divergent! You could have been in any!_

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Lance quickly got away from the hat and headed towards the whooping table. His sister kissed his forehead. “You looked like you were done with life.” She whispered.

“I think I am, he was cringey,” Lance muttered.

“You sound like that half the time,” Veronica smiled sweetly. Lance rolled his eyes and looked at Allura.

“Keith Kogane-Shirogane!” She yelled. His eyes flicked towards Keith sat and his eyes widened. Keith looked like he was ready to be taking her on, he must not have liked the ‘Shirogane’ part. He must not have known about the emailing part of changing the names. He stomped over to the seat and huffed before getting the Hat on his. Unlike Lance, the Hat covered his whole face.

A few minutes past, either the Hat mustn’t be working or Keith was fighting with the Hat. It must be the fighting part. He didn’t look like he was in the mood. Lance understood. Lance’s nerves either went to make him act nervous and panicky like Hunk or make him pissed at the world. He was 11 but that many years of life was enough for him to hate the world at times. He waited patiently.

Another few minutes past.

Shiro whispered something Allura.

Allura got up to take the Hat away from Keith.

“SLYTHERIN!”

Allura stood dead in her track and Keith violently threw the Hat on the stage. He looked like he were about to cry. His eyes glistened as he headed towards the silent table. Lance looked at his sister. “He shouldn’t have been put in there,” She muttered. Lance raised an eyebrow. “He’s Muggleborn, Lance. Slytherin only takes in Purebloods or Halfbloods. Never Muggleborn.” Lance looked over to Keith. The people on his tables were making an effort to move as far away as possible from him. Lance felt for him.

Dinner started. The food was a competition for Hunk’s food! He didn’t know which was better! “Don’t eat too much of this stuff, it will make you sick since you’re not used to this rich food,” His sister scolded. Lance didn’t listen and shoved more into his plate. “I wouldn’t drink that if I were you!” She warned when Lance drank from the cup and did a spit take. A few moments later, Lance looked over to see Keith making the same mistake and having the same reaction.

After Dinner was over, Lance drew Hunk by the sleeve over towards Keith.

“Hi,” Hunk said. Lance wanted him to start this conversation. It was evident that Keith wasn’t much of a talker and got really cagey over himself. Hunk would soften him up, and Hunk was a great friend to have! Who wouldn’t want this big guy as a friend!

Keith glanced up through his lashes and bit his lip. He seemed to be nervous nervous and not mad nervous anymore. “I’m Hunk, and this is Lance,” Hunk said, “We saw each other at Diagon Alley, remember?” Keith nodded. “That’s a really cool wand! Can I see it?” Hunk asked softly.

A boy shoved into Keith. He sneered at the raven haired boy and Keith looked about ready to defend himself. Why was that his first instinct? If it had been anyone else, they would have flinched. Lance wanted to know why. But he always came off to much to people and didn’t want to scare Keith away. “Filthy Muggleborn.” The boy muttered at him.

Lance was about to defend him when he noticed that Keith was actually crying. It was silent crying! He hadn’t even noticed! He clenched his fists and was about to swing when the other boy just rolled his eyes, like Keith wasn’t worth his time, and stalked off.

“Keith-” Lance began. Keith cut him off with those violet eyes of his. They were just as intense as Pidge, Hunk, and Lance’s. His cheeks were glistening with tears but his voice was clear and firm.

“Don’t you dare try and take pity on me,” Keith said warningly, “It was just one push, nothing! Don’t look at me like that!” And he ran off, wiping his tears away his the sleeve of his robes.

“It doesn’t mean anything, Lance,” Hunk said soothingly.

“Oh, yeah!” Lance said with his ears hot with anger. “How dare he put words in my mouth! I was just trying to be nice, wow! Remind me never to go near his cold heart again!”

“Lance you don’t mean that,” Hunk said with wide eyes.

Oh, yes, he did.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 


	3. Quidditch Team?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance decides that Keith is the worst. Well, actually, is he? He isn't such a bad guy? But an offer that eats at Lance's conscious makes him say 'maybe' to his one dream come true.

“What do you mean I don’t have the same class with you!”

Lance was fuming. He wanted his first lesson in Hogwarts to be with his friends, Hunk or Pidge! He was fine with either! He wanted to go to class with them! Though, their timetables spoke a different story. They only had a few classes together, and it wasn’t for a few hours. The school had a new system were two Houses went to the same classes to build friends between them, though Lance really wanted his friends. If he didn’t have them, it was Slytherin. It was inevitable, but he wanted to put it off as much as possible. He didn’t like stereotyping people by their House, because Lance could have fit in any apparently, but there were some people who were molded by those stereotypes. And most of those people were in Slytherin. They were ultimate Slytherins in a way?

“Well, we both have Charms. And you have Transfiguration with Slytherin. Maybe you could talk to Keith?” Hunk said. Lance’s ears burned hot. “Maybe he was only mad because he was getting bullied? You said you’d act the same way.” That simmered Lance down a bit.

“I might want to warn you that you’ll be learning how to turn matchsticks into needles. Matt says it's the most infuriating thing in the world. But it’s so satisfying when you finally manage it!” Pidge mimicked her brother. “I just think he was being over dramatic,”

“Whatever, I’m leaving!” Lance huffed as he made his way through the hallway into his class. He took a seat with one of his Gryffindor friends, Poppy. She was a simple thing, easy to get along with. She was easy on the eyes and pleasing to look, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t go messy. She would and will use force to get what she wants and would get annoyed at any controversial thing that comes up. Lance made that mistake last night and made up with her, though he wouldn’t be invoking her wrath ever again.

“You look like crap,” She noted with a laugh and he glared at her.

“I don’t like the fact that we have to share a class with…with…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say the words. There was no factual reason he should be disgusted by having classes with Slytherin, but yet, here the feeling was. “I just wanted my other friends, I know you have your friends here in this class. AKA, me and Sebastian!” Lance laughed. She and Sebastian where friends since they were in diapers and they knew each other inside out.

“You make it sound like I’m a loner,” She said, “Ooh! Allura is coming in!” The room fell into a hushed silence as she strode into the room. Her hair was following behind her like a veil and her robes were a deep shade of pink, almost purple. She had a smile on her face as she faced the class. There were markings around her eyes and she had her wand in hand.

“So we all know how this starts, right?” She asked, “Me showing off and everyone awing just to find out we’re doing to basics first?” Everyone nodded. “Well, I’m going to do it anyways!” She announced. She pointed her wand at Sebastian’s book and it turned into a goblet full of frothing gold liquid and then it switched back into a book. She pointed her wand at another student and smirked before levitating him off his seat. The boy gave a small yelp before plopping down safely back into his seat. She pointed at the ceiling and confetti flowered down at all of them.

The class fell into awe.

“And here comes the basics,” Lance muttered at the same time Allura announced it.

“Today you will be learning to turn a matchstick into a needle,” She said and Lance groaned. Pidge had warned him and he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of being correct. “You can look at Page 50 for tips and instructions, but make sure you have a strong grip on your wand! I will be coming around the class and helping!” She said.

Lance glared at his matchstick.

The matchstick stared back.

He waved his wand in weird angles that deemed fit for him and nothing happened. Allura asked the class as she was helping a student with their stance, “What’s the most important thing for using a wand?”

No one answered.

“No extra wand movements,” Came a voice.

Lance spun in the direction of the said voice and his eyes widened. It was Keith Damn Kogane. Of course it would be him! Lance could forgive the boy for snapping at him because he was being bullied, because boy, Lance would have done the damn same thing! But this! Showing him and everyone up at class! And he was also done with the practical! Lance stared at his matchstick and waved his wand at it, turning it small and silver. Finally! But it wasn’t fair that Keith was the first!

“Why are you glaring at that needle?” Sebastian asked, “You planning on murder or something?”

“I actually am,” Lance muttered, “I hate either being wrong or being shown up!”

“And by a Muggleborn?” Sebastian asked. Lance winced at the word, it wasn’t actually that. But it didn’t stop the burning anger. Keith had shown him up! Was this some sort of twisted revenge that Lance totally didn’t deserve? Lance hadn’t done anything but try to be nice to him to get this in return! That was it, Keith was a total douchebag. There was no going around that. Seriously. You just can’t do that to a guy.

“Yeah, totally,”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

The next lesson at Charms hadn’t been any better.

It was their break at the moment and Lance was with his friends, sitting by the lake. Well, they were sitting and Lance was pacing around. “And I got detention on Friday! With Keith!” He complained. He was so damn annoyed. Lance had answered a question correctly to Professor Holt, Pidge’s dad, and the Keith did, then it was a competition. Which totally didn’t result in Keith and Lance exploding the nearby lava lamp.

It totally had.

“Well, it’s not really all Keith’s fault,” Pidge said, “You were the one that took it as a fight and he was probably going along because you riled him up. You do that to people, you know? Maybe it’s you ugly nose,”

“Excuse you, my nose is the best in the school!” Lance announced.

“See? Now I have the strange urge to strangle you!” Pidge’s eyes gleamed. Lance touched his throat and slowly backed away until he was behind Hunk.

“Keith’s a good guy, he’s just shy and defensive,” Hunk said, “Lance, you know everybody had a past.”

Now that hit home. Lance knew everyone had their own story because he had his own tragic 11 years of life to go off of. Everyone had their own problems and that was the main reason Lance didn’t like to stereotype people. A girl can be strong and independent whilst also liking her shoes. A boy can cuddle with kittens and cry whilst still being the head Quidditch player. Lance was not one to judge. He couldn’t.

“What do you mean? You suddenly know his backstory in the one day you’ve been here?” Lance asked hotly.

“After that whole fiasco after Dinner last night, I went up to him. He was crying and I calmed him down. Stop looking at me like I’m a traitor, Lance. He says he’s an orphan, that his parents were killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And guess when that was Lance?” Hunk challenged him. “On his birthday, which coincidentally is your birthday, isn’t that a jolly good surprise? He’s used to people not treating him right because he’s Muggleborn but didn’t expect it like this, so I don’t think you should be acting like this!”

“Wow, Hunk has some claws,” Pidge said in surprise, “But I’m on his side, though, I can’t really get you to change your mind about him. I haven’t even met him yet,” She narrowed her eyes on Lance, “But try to keep your hatred of him on the inside, I don’t think he needs anything else on his plate.”

Lance huffed as an answer. “How was that lesson with your dad? Many jokes or not?” Lance asked. He wasn’t really changing the subject but it seemed like the subject itself had ended itself. “I could totally picture him doing it, mainly because he did in my class. Made fun of Matt so many times!”

“Same!” Pidge said, “I have so much more blackmail material on him than ever! I can’t believe he broke into tears because he couldn’t cast a damn spell! How dumb is that?”

“Well, I practically almost went insane,” Hunk said, “That much focus on my mind was painful! And in the end, I ended up doing it without that much focus in the first place! The whole point was doing spells without focusing too hard, that actually makes a few migraines take place and places stress on us.”

“And the dud cried!” Pidge continued. “He didn’t seem to get the whole chill out idea and damn well cried!” She laughed, “I did it on the first go,”

“No, way!” Lance said, “I couldn’t do it until my third!”

“That’s because she’s a prodigy,” Hunk said, “Why else would they admit her in?”

“Because I’m a bundle of sunshine?” Pidge suggested.

“Because she’s too loud and needs to be contained,” Lance countered.

“No!” Hunk said, “Because she’s smart! After this, I doubt their decision,”

“It was a joke, Hunk.” Pidge said. She looked at him pointedly and plainly trying to contain her laughter. “I have Potions, what about you?”

“Same as you,” Hunk said.

“I have Flying!” Lance said excitedly, “I really want to get on a broom!” He said. “I’m so sad they don’t let first years on the team, I could try out and be a sub or something. I doubt I’m good enough to get an official title,” He said jokingly, though he truly believed it. His expression must have been convincing as they laughed at his joke.

That was the problem.

Each person in this school had their own special friend! That one friend that can tell you’re lying straight away or knows that you’re hiding something. Pidge and Hunk were a pair, Sebastian and Poppy were a pair, Veronica and her friend Octavian, and Jane with Orla. There were so many and Lance didn’t have that someone who he could spill his life to. He had the idea that Hunk and Pidge would listen but they wouldn’t really know how to comfort him. That’s the problem, he didn’t need the comfort, just someone to listen to him.

“I guess I’ll see you later, then.” Lance said in a small voice.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

Flying was a bust!

A kid, Jaxon Heist, was being a brat. He was a Slytherin and was showing off about the fact that he could get his broom in hand the fastest. Only to be beat by both Lance and Keith. The rest of the class was struggling. Allura had stepped aside to go get her First Aid Kit in case there were any minor injuries. So, anything could happen right now. Like, anything. Lance was lazily flying in the air when he noticed Jaxon picking on Keith. He was also flying around Keith and tugging on his hair, saying things about how feminine he was being.

“Oh, heck to the no!” Poppy yelled. He stomped over and whacked him with her broom, though the broom didn’t exactly connect. Jaxon ascending just a little higher just in time before the hit could land. “You will not make fun of Keith just because he has long hair! I, for one, think he looks adorable!” She gave an encouraging smile to Keith who just looked at her with a blank look.

Lance had said he would try to get along with Keith. So, naturally, he slowly inched forward on his broom before wrapping his arms around Jaxon’s chest and pushing him down. The broom could no longer support his weight and tilted, resulting in him dropping to the ground. “Lance, I would yell at you, but thank you!” Poppy grinned at him.

“McClain!” Jaxon yelled once he was back on his feet. He glared at Lance and mounted his broom once more. He was on level with Lance and was seething. He charged forwards and shoved Lance off his broom. Lance hung off his broom by barely keeping a grip on the stick, his body dangling in the air. He made his broom zip forwards as he regained balance and mounted his broom properly. He shot a look of hatred at Jaxon before charging at him head on. It was at that moment he realised something else.

Another Slytherin was about to hit Keith with their broom. Keith hadn’t noticed and was studiously talking to Poppy. Lance charged in their direction, narrowly making sure he would hit Jaxon on the way, and grabbed the broom before it hit Keith on the back.

“McClain!” Allura yelled. Lance’s eyes widened as he jumped off his broom and hung his head. Being raised with more than one sibling, he had learned to take the blame of the situation most of the time. It just pained him that it had to be on first school day and he also received a detention the lesson before! Allura marched towards him and her lips were fuming. “First are you okay? Any injuries?” Lance shook his head but she checked him over quickly. “That was the most stupidest thing I have ever seen a first year do! It was also violent! But, I have an offer to give to you.” She dragged Lance away from the rest of the class. “As you know, I’m the Head of Gryffindor, and our House hasn’t won the Quidditch Cup in a while, so I’m offering you the chance to join the team,”

“Woah,” Lance said, “Isn’t that just for second years and up?” He said. He felt guilty. He broke the rules and ended up getting what he wanted. That wasn’t how the world was meant to spin! It was mean to punish him for doing wrong and give him wonderful hugs when he did the right things! Anyone could have done what he had just done and he got this! He felt like he didn’t deserve it.

“You and the other two students-Keith and Jaxon-were the only three able to get your broom sup in thirty seconds!” Allura said proudly, “But, they’re on Slytherin and you’re in my House. How do you feel about signing up for being a beater? You have the right build for it and the violent tendencies. I saw you up there and I assure you, that was no fluke.”

“Is it okay if I think it over?” Lance definitely felt guilty now. Keith could have had the chance to join the Slytherin team, too, if it were Hagger here and he was flying up there. Keith was just as good if not better than Lance at flying. Jaxon could rot in Hell, but he felt guilty for having this given to him.

“You will always have a spot ready for you,” Allura gave him a warm smile that made Lance feel sick. She walked him back to the rest of the class and Lance headed straight towards Keith.

“What did I tell you about keeping you damn pity to yourself?” Keith demanded. “Do you know how embarrassing that was? I don’t need you and your showbiz personality anywhere near me!” And he stormed off.

Yep, this lesson was totally a bust!

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“What do you mean you didn’t say yes?” Pidge demanded with Hunk nodding in agreement on their way to Lunch. They were going to have to split ways to their tables soon, but now it was the time to speak to each other. Lance had explained what happened during Flying to them and he was right, they just didn’t seem to _get_ him. They seemed to be in synch with each other but Lance was lagging behind. He couldn’t get on the same wavelength as them. Maybe he had to try harder, that was it, it wasn’t because he was a bad person!

“Well, look at it like this,” Lance said, “Keith could have had the chance to join the team but since the situation wasn’t right, he couldn’t get in. But I did. It doesn’t feel right, either. There are rules for a reason, remember? First years are just learning how to use a broom, I don’t think I was even that good,”

“Well, you must have been if they asked you to just join the team,” Hunk pointed out. “But, I think I understand. Keith, huh?” He waggled his eyebrows. “Where did all that anger go, like, weren’t you just mad at him two hours ago?”

“What? Did he swoon at your rescue and you two became friends?” Pidge teased.

“The opposite, actually,” Lance muttered, “He took the gesture of saving him as pity and chewed me out for it.”

“Woah, you seem like you care, what the hell?” Pidge said. “I thought you’d be a bit more stubborn on the idea that Keith was your arch nemesis.”

“I think I agree with Hunk a little bit,” Lance said, “I don’t like hating someone because of a few things and I think he’s just shy and cagey around people. He must have a tough life or something, well, Hunk did say he did. I can’t judge him,”

“Great, you came to your senses,” Pidge said. “When will Keith?”

“It might take a while,” Hunk said, “People can’t just straight up flip a switch and like someone,”

“Lance just did,” Pidge pointed out.

“I did,” Lance agreed.

“That’s because you’re a freak, most people can’t do that,” Hunk said, “Just…give him some time, okay?”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new friend comes along. Or were they there all along?

It was time for the detention.

Lance and Keith were assigned to clean around with the caretaker, especially near the trophies. Lance’s eyes caught on a trophy for a boy called Lamina Z. Rook. He seemed like a teacher’s pet as there were trophies and certificates for him everywhere. Lance felt irritated just by looking at the damn things. He couldn’t even look at Keith because the boy would just glare at him, like this was all his fault. Well, it was partly. But it was also Keith’s! But Lance couldn’t stay mad at him. Keith was in charge of dusting and he would scrunch his nose in to make sure he wouldn’t sneeze. Either his sneeze was adorable or ugly and he wanted to hide it.

Lance could hear Shiro speaking to Slav, the divination teacher, outside the hall. “I’m here to say that Fluffy caught an intruder,” Shiro whispered. “Well, I say caught, but he was trying to say that there was an intruder. We might want to reinforce the protections. I don’t want Nicholas Flamel’s secret going out, Alfor wouldn’t want that.”

“I assure you my dog, Fluffy, should be more than enough,” Slav said, “Though, in several realities and in this one, you might want to try and get Sam Holt to help you with the reinforcements,”

“You could have just said yes,” Shiro said.

“There was a 85% chance you were going to be annoyed, so I wanted to take a chance.” Slav said.

“Okay, I am so leaving!” Shiro said as he walked away.

Lance had definitely had this conversation and so had Keith. But the other boy just tensed and carried on with his work. Lance huffed before carrying on with his scrubbing. By the end of the detention, the hall was glistening clean. Lance huffed and threw his sponge in the bucket and was stalking off. He met with Hunk.

“Lance, you could, you know, speak with Keith?” Hunk said. “You said you wanted to be friends with him. And you’re usually really talkative, maybe you should talk to him. You did that with me, where did that guy go?” 

“That guy is very tired at the moment,” Lance yawned. “They made me waste my spare time and an hour for this. I should be getting to bed in 10.” He stretched his back, making sure to crack a few bones, but he saw Keith walking. “Maybe if you motivate me enough, I could try to talk to him, I make no promises.”

“I’ll make sure to make you a buffet when we go home.” Hunk suggested. Lance’s eyes gleamed and as an answer, he marched towards Keith. Hunk followed close on his heels with a winning smile on his face. Hunk had said he had finally got Keith speaking to him during the week. They were become great friends and Hunk wanted Keith to gain more. He also had a hunch that Keith and Lance would make an amazing pair. Lance, personally, was doing this because Keith needed a friend and Lance wanted to be his friend. It was as simple as that. Nothing needed to be this complicated at his age and he might as well get over it.

“Hey,” Lance said. Keith looked at him with a little shock before glaring at him. “Look, I know you have this pity thing, but I don’t really pity you?” Lance said. Well, it sounded more like a question which made Keith narrow his eyes. “Look, what I’m trying to say is that can we move on?” Keith thought about it and stalked off without even giving Lance an answer.

Normally, Lance would have just fumed and went back to Hunk to go back to bed and drop Hunk off. But this was going to eat away at him all night and he really was determined to gain Keith’s friendship. “Hey!” Lance called after and followed him. He fell into step with the other boy, noticing they were roughly the same height with Lance a little taller. “Can I just say, you’re an amazing Flyer? I bet you’re more of a seeker than anything else, right? I can tell. Imagine playing on nationals.” Keith’s jaw tightened. He rolled his eyes and entered a random room by whispering a spell and stepping in. Lance followed in.

The room was dark and dingy and had a thick smell of mould in the air. Lance scrunched his nose and looked around for Keith. The boy’s hair blended in with the darkness. Hunk even entered the room. “Look, can’t we get over this rivalry?” Lance asked.

“Aren’t you the one who started it?” Keith snapped back.

“Guys, look!” Hunk said in a quivering voice. Lance and Keith both looked over their shoulder and widened their eyes. They couldn’t help it. There was a three-headed dog sleeping heavily behind them.

“Cool.” Both Lance and Keith said at the same time and went to inspect the dog.

“Are you two serious?” Hunk said in a whisper, “Come on! We need to go!”

“Not until he accepts my apology and lets me be his friend!” Lance whined but grinned as the dog’s ear twitched.

“I accept! I would have always accepted! Look!” Keith said with bright eyes-from crying or from curiosity? He was pointing at something under the middle head. Lance went up closer and realised there was a trap door. “Do you think this is about what Shiro was talking about with Slav?”

“Totally, but what’s in it?” Lance said in awe. “Well, obviously something important if someone tried to break in to get it.”

“Maybe we should get out?” Hunk suggested.

“That’s probably the smart idea,” Keith said, “I want to stay.”

“Same,” Lance said.

“I know I said you two would make great friends but stop cooperating with each other for a second and realise we could get killed!” Hunk said.

“If you put it that way,” Lance said.

“We could leave, coward.” Keith finished him off. They both exchanged glances and laughed, heading out the door with a shuddering Hunk behind them. “Maybe it’s Haggar, she’s a creep.” Keith suggested. “But I doubt we can help if, you know, we don’t know what she’s trying to steal.”

“I guess we have to lock the door,” Hunk said as he locked it with a spell. “I am never going back in there ever again.”

“I am,” Keith and Lance said in unison. “We first have to find out who Nicholas Flamel is.” They said in unison again. They looked at each other with a glare before bursting out in laughter.

“It’s the weekend tomorrow, we’ll fill Pidge on what happened and we can spend the day in the Matt’s office,” Hunk suggested.

“That’s a great idea,” Keith said, “Why haven’t become friends with you sooner?”

“Because you were a prick?” Lance asked.

“Or you kept picking a fight with me?” Keith shot back, “You’re doing it again with me!” He said with a smile. It was odd to see the boy smile to happily. It made Lance want to go up to him and cover him up from all the terrors in the world. But, Keith was that other boy Lord Zarkon had attacked, the boy had been exposed to too much already. “What’s wrong? That’s the opposite of what I expected, did I say something wrong?”

“No, he’s pitying himself,” Hunk said. “He does it, like, every thirty seconds.”

“Oh my God!” Lance said, shooting Hunk a look that spoke of betrayal. They all laughed but shut up once they heard the echoing footsteps. “I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?” Lance said before running off. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, nothing can stop him from grinning. He finally broke into Keith’s wall and became friends with him. He knew Keith would still be a little cagey, you can’t exactly just break the whole wall in one, but he was prepared for the worst. He was just glad he was finally friends with Keith, he could be happy with him!

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

Well, he could be unhappy it turns out.

He had entered the commons room after trying to lie to the Fat Lady about why he was so late, then he had to creep into his room and try not to disturb his roommates as he slipped into his top bunk bed. Sebastian was under him, with his two other roommates sleeping. Sebastian was still up reading, the boy had terrible insomnia. He was restless and would try to just do things quietly, like reading or making things. He hadn’t questioned why Lance was late, just rose an eyebrow but went on with reading his book.

He had just lied down when the realisation had hit him: he was guilty!

Being Keith’s friend made the guilt of being offered a spot on the Quidditch team that much more worse. What if Keith would be upset at this fact? Lance knew he would. No, from what Hunk told Lance, Keith was a good guy with not much pride but hated charity. He would think Lance should stop being self-deprecating and get on the team. Or maybe he would stop talking to Lance.

Lance knew he shouldn’t be too bothered by this, if his friends didn’t support him in this, were they ever good friends? But would he be a good friend if he hadn’t considered their feelings? It would have felt wrong if he gave a straight out answer. And, of course, it didn’t matter if his friends straight out said they didn’t care they didn’t get into the team, he would still feel guilty until he found a way to fix this problem. And whilst he’s here debating his problems, the team would be short of a Beater and would need to use the subs for a while. There were going to be 5 matches a year and he might not be able to participate in any because of his guilt.

And he couldn’t just join the team and hope for the best! He would still feel guilty and bring down the team! “I can seriously hear the gears twisting in your head,” Sebastian whispered from below.

“Insomnia,” Lance answered back, “I got ADHD, kind of hard to sleep, I dunno why,”

“Wanna read?” Sebastian asked. “I got comics and novels, a few classics.”

“What if we make things? I think I want to make a cardboard miniature of Hogsmeade.” Lance said. “How about that?”

“I feel like we’d be up all night,” Sebastian said, “Well, I’ll get the cardboard out, you come down and be quiet.” Lance could hear him creek off the bed and ease his way to his trunk. Lance thought for a moment before slowly getting out of his bed and sitting cross-legged on the floor. Sebastian came back with a few cardboard boxes with a smirk on his face. “Tonight, I’ll be the master! I’m the only one of us that has the handiness skill for this,”

“Yes, but I’ve actually been to Hogsmeade,” Lance pointed out in a quiet voice to not wake the others.

“You got me there,” Sebastian laid everything down on the floor and set down something foreign to Lance. “This is a glue gun, my dad’s a Muggle so I have a lot of his things with me from the Muggle world.”

“Let’s get to work then,” Lance said.

For the rest of the night, until dawn when they had to pack up before the others awoke, they worked on their miniature Hogsmeade, only able to get through half a building. Lance could tell this was going to be a nightly thing from now on between the two, this was going to take his mind off of things at night.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“I can’t find anything!” Lance complained as he banged his head on the door of Matt’s office. The librarian had let them borrow a few books they found promising and had brought them into Matt’s office. The room was split into two large rooms, one for a bedroom of which they were locked out of, and for the office, which they were in. Matt was off in his bedroom doing whatever the hell Matts do in their bedrooms. That dude was a whole other species.

It had been a month and the first Quidditch match had occurred: Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff. Gryffindor had won with a narrow gap of 250 whilst Hufflepuff earned 240. Hunk and Pidge had looked at Lance like they expected him to go up to the team and accept their offer but he hadn’t. Lance knew Keith noticed something strange but the boy didn’t press on the subject. Maybe he understood how Lance felt about not wanting others to barge in on his business until he was ready.

It was the end of the first half term, starting the winter term after their little miniature holiday. It wasn’t large enough to go home so the staff had made the effort to give them a few days off. Classes started again the next week and Lance with his friends were determined to try and discover who Nicholas Flamel was and what his secret was. They had spent all their breaks and spare times in Matt’s office. Since they all had different spare times at times, but they all were here right now.

Keith was sitting by the window, sitting on the ottoman and leaning against the glass. He was squinting at the fine print of the book he was reading. Pidge was sitting at Matt’s desk with her glasses hitched high on her nose and was scowling at the page she was reading. Hunk was pacing around with the book in his hand.

Lance had these bursts of not wanting to sit still. He had a personal interest on wanting to find out who Nicholas Flamel was and had all the dopamine in his body to give him the drive, but all the books! As he read the words, they flew out of his mind! He had to reread pages, tap the side of his thigh, get up and pace with Hunk. Right now, he ditched the book and was banging his head on the door. He was getting emotional and he didn’t like it. He stopped hitting his head and tapped his foot on the ground.

“Do you have ADHD?” Keith asked as he looked up from his book. Lance still didn’t stop fidgeting and looked at the boy. “A boy in my orphanage has the same problem. Maybe play with my hair tie?” Keith asked as he handed over it. Lance played with it but he was still restless. The thing about him with his ADHD, he wanted to not forget what he was reading as he was reading it. But, the more he read, the more he lost interest and wanted to switch books. But he couldn’t until he finished the book! His eyes kept wandering to places, but he always went back to the book and lost interest.

Lance knew for a fact that everyone had different symptoms for ADHD. And that there were three major branches for it too, and he happened to receive the branch that was both. He was both inattentive and Hyperactive. Though, his hyperactivity had a fifty percent chance of being physical and the rest being in his mind. Right now, he was having it on both side which so was not helping. At least the hair tie was helping him focus a tad bit. Lance always felt so offended when people found out he had ADHD. So what if he was one of the top students? Another top student could have depression and they could appear as happy as the sun! And then they would make jokes and ask if he gets distracted by squirrels, like cartoon dogs.

“Thanks, Keith.” Lance said. “But what if we’re all just wasting our time? The book could be in the restricted section for all we care!” Lance said.

“Well, then our plan is a bust.” Keith said. “We can’t get in. Ever. The librarian won’t let us in unless we get a teacher’s signature. And the teachers would get suspicious.”

“So, we carry on working on this!” Pidge said. “We have all the time in the world! Well, unless Haggar or someone steals the thing.”

That was the problem. Deadlines didn’t feel real to Lance until it was the next day or on the day. And there wasn’t really a specific day the unknown thing would get stolen by an unknown someone! If he was left to his own devices, he would have procrastinated. Well, he was doing it now. He was cleaning up Matt’s desk and hoped that he wouldn’t mind. He didn’t want to pick up that book again. “Can’t we have, like, a break? We’ve been doing this for hours! I can’t handle this!”

He stomped over to the ottoman Keith was sitting on and lay down. It was long enough for him to lay down, his feet crowding on the wall. Well, the ottoman was in a little alcove by the window. Lance lay his head on Keith’s lap picked up his book. He heard Keith give a little yelp before continuing to read. He needed motivation. “Hey, Keith. If I get through two more hours of this without complaint, will you sneak into the kitchens and get me something?” Keith had a slight build and would be an awesome Seeker if given the opportunity. That made Lance a little bit more guilty but he pushed through it.

“Deal,” Keith said. “I’ll even make you a milkshake or something.”

And that was that. Lance and Keith stayed in that position for two hours, with Lance every now and again stopping to fiddle with the hair tie Keith had given him. He would stop and reread the paragraph to ingrain what he had read and realised that Flamel’s name hadn’t been mentioned once. He had gotten through two entire hardback books in those two hours.

“I have to go before Shay gets worried about me,” Hunk announced. Shay was a girl in his House that was great friends with Hunk. They were extremely close though they had only met at the beginning of the year.

“Your girlfriend?” Pidge teased.

“We’re only 11!” Hunk exclaimed.

“I dunno,” Keith said slowly. “I’ve seen some 3-year-olds kiss at the orphanage.”

“Keith, I thought you were the mature one!” Hunk said.

“Hey, Keith is like a child!” Lance said. “He needs sweets to be happy and act like this! I had to share my sweets with him!”

“Oh, Lord!” Keith said, “It was only one time!”

“But my mum had sent those!” Lance shot back.

“You didn’t have to give them to me,” Keith pointed out. Lance knew he didn’t but seeing that Keith never got anything from the orphanage was grating on him and he wanted to share his things with Keith. It wasn’t really charity or pity, just anger that the place wouldn’t send him anything. Even clean clothes would have done! He wanted Keith to be happy, not to see him close to tears when he sees people get letters from home.

“It’s because I’m so nice,” Lance said. “I couldn’t help it, you looked so sad.” It was the truth. Keith’s eyes widened but he quickly recovered by sticking his tongue out. “Okay, then. I won’t share you the sweets she gives me next,”

“I don’t need your stupid sweets,” Keith said jokingly.

“Yeah, you need me,” Lance said. “Who wouldn’t?”

“Me,” Pidge said, “You two are acting so...you’re making me barf.”

“You are such a 10-year-old.” Hunk said. “Well, see you tomorrow?” They all bid him farewell before he left.

“They are so going to date when they’re older.” Pidge said. “Lance, it says here you’ve been late for every lesson for the past month! And school started a month ago! You’ve only been on time for the first day!”

“Yeah…” Lance said. He didn’t mean to be late, he didn’t mean to do it. He couldn’t help it. “Sorry?”

“Nah, it’s okay. I’m not the teacher,” Pidge said, “Though I’d like to see you get through the year.”

“I’m not too hot on Herbology and History of Magic,” Keith said, “You could tutor us.”

“That is if Lance shows up at the meetings,” Pidge pointed out.

“Oh, he will!” Keith announced, “I will make sure of it.”

“You sound like my mum,” Lance laughed as he sat up from Keith’s lap. “I don’t need any human alarm clock for this. Wait, maybe I do.”

“I have to go,” Pidge said abruptly, “I have to get up early tomorrow to return these books. See you.” She said and left.

“Okay,” Keith said, “I didn’t want to say this in front of the others. And they didn’t point it out. But, are you alright? You look tired,” He said in concern. “I know I haven’t known you at the same period of time as the others and it might sound weird from me, but have you been sleeping?”

“Uh, kind of,” Lance said. He had been staying up with Sebastian with their night time habit now. He would sometimes just not want to do it because he would forget but Sebastian would always remind him. It was a new habit that Sebastian was the reminder that he had to carry on doing. The insomnia was something Lance couldn’t get through. It was a symptom of ADHD and his building anxiety of his guilt.

“I can tell that’s a lie.” Keith said quietly. He set his book on his lap and made eye contact with Lance. “The kids at my orphanage have all kinds of problems, either from actually not being in a family or genetic. They might not like me but I pay attention. I know ADHD when I see it, and I know insomnia is a symptom. What can I do to help?”

“There is nothing,” Lance said. Something Keith had said earlier that echoed on his mind. “You are.”

“I am what?” Keith asked in confusion.

“You said you weren’t my friend as long as the others,” Lance explained. “You were my friend all along. I met Hunk on the same day I saw you. I was friends with Pidge since the first day of school. Just because you were a little late because of something I did doesn’t mean you can’t feel the same things they do about me.”

“Stop being self-pitying,” Keith said, “Aren’t stereotypical 11-year-olds meant to be bouncing off the walls and screeching their heads off?”

“We’re all anything but stereotypical,” Lance said.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 


	5. A Night To Remember

Lance hated Potions class.

The only thing that drove him forwards was the fact that spare time was up next with Pidge to look for Flamel, and that Keith was next to him. It was four months into the school year, it was December! Christmas was coming the hell up! There was going to be so much cheer in the air and they still hadn’t found who Flamel was in their four month search. There had been another Quidditch match that Lance had refused to attend and Keith went with him to the library to mess about. Hunk and Pidge had said that it was Hufflepuff vs Slytherin and that Slytherin won with 260 and Hufflepuff had only 70. Hunk and Shay were a little down before Keith took it his responsibility to pity himself for being on the House that beat them. That shook the two out of their daze and apologised whilst giving him sweets.

Haggar was a great teacher, don’t get Lance wrong. It was just that Lance was more of a practical person and Haggar had noticed that so she made sure that most of their lessons were mainly theory. He would always yell at Lance for tapping his fingers on the table and daydreaming, for not finishing his test on time and everything! It was grating on him. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t go up to stupid Haggar’s expectations! He was trying as hard as he could and Haggar was telling him that it wasn’t enough.

And what was even worse was the fact that Pidge was going to leave for the winter holidays! They weren’t even a step closer to finding out who Flamel was and it was stressing all of them out. It wasn’t Pidge’s fault, Sam Holt wanted to go see his wife and have a small family reunion. Their family wasn’t really religious but they were going to take advantage of the holiday to meet up.

Lance knew he promised Luis to visit over the holidays but he had to do something! If he went home, he knew he would procrastinate and not do proper research on Flamel. But that was also a problem. The brain was like a filter. If you were in a situation, it would filter in the correct things needed. Like if you were about to do homework, your brain would make sure to filter in food and drink and to socialise a bit and to actually study. But the ADHD had only two filtration modes, to let everything in-which got nothing done- or nothing in-which resulted in him in not eating or drinking.

“You should go home for the holidays,” Keith was saying. The boy was staying behind because Shiro was staying behind. He looked relieved to be not going back to the orphanage. Lance didn’t understand why he had to stay there if Shiro had adopted him.

“But…” Lance whispered, tracing patterns on Keith’s palm, “I don’t want to leave you alone. I feel like you’re going to cage yourself off and we’re going to be back to base one.”

“You’re staying because of me?” Keith whispered in disbelief.

“Is that so hard to believe? You’re my friend,” Lance said. “But it’s not only you. If I go back there, my homesickness will get worse.” Lance knew Keith understood this. Lance had explained it so many times to the boy that Keith understood this. It was one of the things that kept Lance awake at night. He wanted to go home and sleep with his family in their mother’s room.

“I understand, I’ll help you sign up for staying here,” Keith murmured.

“Is there something you would like to share?” Haggar asked as she banged her bony fingers on their table. “You should be working on your wolfsbane essay, not chatting! 5 points away from Gryffindor.”

“But, miss!” Keith protested, “I was talking too!”

“10 points from Gryffindor,” She hissed. Keith sunk back on his chair and glared at her.

“I don’t get why she acts like this to you,” He said in a wobbly voice. “It isn’t fair. What did you ever do?”

“She’s just a bigot, I’ll earn more points at Astronomy,” Lance said. “You sound like you care,”

“It’s because I do!” Keith said. “I’m going to carry on with my essay, shut up.”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

Lance was going to take this day just dedicated for Hunk.

It was Friday afternoon and he felt like he hadn’t had much time with his first friend here. They were having a day break from their search of Flamel just for this occasion. He didn’t want to offend the other two of his friends but he felt like he hadn’t had a one-to-one with the big guy in ages. They couldn’t hang out with each other in their common rooms because they were in separate Houses so they were in the library and messing about.

“No, I’m telling you! I told him to get me something from the kitchen and he got me a mango! That wasn’t even peeled or cut!” Lance laughed.

“Oh, God!” Hunk laughed, “I didn’t think Keith could be such a dork!”

“I know right? He looks like such a studious person, but he’s so clueless, like, what?” Lance laughed.

“I think this is the time were I say,” Hunk said, “I told you so!”

“Shut up,” Lance grumbled.

“Nuh huh,” Hunk said with a smirk, “I told you that you two would be great friends! I told you! And now look at you!” He said with a triumphant smile. “You’re even staying behind for him!”

“No,” Lance said quickly, “I’m staying because I so I don’t get homesick,” Lance said hotly.

“Sure,” Hunk said, “Did you know Shay’s brother is on our Quidditch team?”

“That Rax dude?” Lance asked, “I had a hunch, he’s so violent. Is he a beater?” Lance recalled he hadn’t been to their Quidditch match. “Wait, what were we talking about?” Lance easily lost track of things.

“About Rax being a beater,” Hunk said, “He is a beater on the team and in real life,”

“Remind me to get myself robes a size bigger?” Lance said. He had to blurt it out before he forgot it. He had noticed he was getting a little taller and his robes were getting a bit tighter. And that Keith was getting cold around this time of year and he wanted to wrap his robes around the boy but still keep the robes on him. Like sharing a blanket? But he needed his robes to be bigger for that. It was like hitting two birds with one stone.

“Sure,” Hunk said, “Watch you trip down the stairs with those big robes. You’re going to regret it so bad,”

“You’re just jealous you’re not as tall as me,” Lance stuck his tongue out.

“LIES!” Hunk cried out. “You should say that to Pidge, she’s the short one!”

“EXCUSE ME!”   


Lance turned around to see Keith and Pidge standing by their table. Pidge looked like that girl she was on the train from when they first met. She had a playful light to her eyes and she looked just about ready to fight.

“What are you going to do?” Lance teased, “Hit his kneecaps?”

“Say goodbye to your kneecaps!” Pidge said with a smirk. She rolled up her robe’s sleeves and stomped towards Lance.

“Calm it, Pidgeon,” Lance said, “It’s just a joke.”

“I know, but that won’t stop me!” She said. “But I’m way too tired for this! Distract me, peasants.” She said as she sat down next to Hunk. Keith sat next to Lance and gave his hand to him. Lance went straight to holding his hand and tracing patterns on his palm. It calmed both of them down and let them focus.

“I heard something on the way here,” Keith announced. Everyone turned their eyes to him. He shifted uncomfortably at the attention before clearing is throat. “Shiro was talking to Allura about Project Fluffy,” That’s what their team had ended up calling this situation, “There are apparently protections done by every teacher here,”

“Fluffy by Slav,” Lance said in realisation. “There must be more protections, maybe that’s why Haggar isn’t making a move. She needs to realise how to get past the others,”

“We don’t know about Haggar being the thief,” Pidge pointed out, “You’re just saying that out of spite, there’s no proof.”

“Whatever,” Lance said, “At least we have a new clue, thank you, Keith,” He gave a lopsided grin at Keith and traced a heart on Keith’s palm. Keith tensed under his fingers but relaxed and returned the smile. “We need to get into the restricted section,” He whispered to make sure no one else outside their table could listen.

“Lance, we can’t,” Pidge said. “Unless you damn well have something that can turn us invisible!”

“Sorry, even if I did, why would I tell you? I could make awesome pranks with that,” Lance said.

“True, don’t show it to Matt, then.” Pidge said.

“Why is that?” Lance asked.

“So, you know how he’s the most distracting announcer at Quidditch, right?” Lance nodded along with the others. “During his final year, after the exams, he set of fireworks and rode out of school on his broom. Alfor, the headmaster at the time, was so impressed that he didn’t even punish Matt. It’s like the dufus can bend anything to his will,”

“Are you serious?” Lance demanded, “I love this guy! But Shiro’s annoyed by it, I can tell, he’s way too serious.”

“Well, he did have to grow up fast,” Keith piped up, “He was asked to be the Headmaster out of nowhere, and he can’t actually be that teenager whilst being Headmaster, can he?”

“True that,” Hunk said, “But he can loosen up. What about we so something for him at Christmas?”

“Like what?” Keith asked with hopeful eyes. “I can’t buy anything but I can sure as hell help!”

“How about giving him a day off? He doesn’t have to be in teacher mode all the time, can he? For Christmas, he can be a kid again. He’s only, like, 21.” Pidge said.

“But how?” Keith asked, “He has a lot of work to do,”

“Leave that to me,” Lance said, “I was going to be Sorted into Ravenclaw, you know? I can get his work done on the day. If I do it on the day of Christmas, I can get everything done. My ADHD works like that, I kind of get this hyper focus on the deadline and I can finish it perfectly,” Lance said, “Well, as much as I can handle before passing out.”

“I’ll help you,” Hunk said.

“Keith and I will distract Shiro,” Pidge suggested, “Then we can have a full out party,”

“It’s a plant,” Keith smiled.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

There _was_ a problem.

Lance knew this as soon as he lay his head on his pillow. It wasn’t the fact that he couldn’t work on Miniature Hogsmeade because Sebastian was still out in the common room shouting random crap. It was the fact that this was Keith’s first Christmas with proper friends. Lance could tell. He noticed the way Keith got both excited and nervous for Christmas. This was going to be his first time having Christmas with a real family. Lance didn’t know the whole business with the orphanage thing but he knew things were rough over there but he didn’t want to press on Keith’s business, Keith would open up in his own time.

Keith wasn’t going to get many presents.

Lance comes from a tight knit family from where everyone gave each other 2 gifts each-including cousins and such. And Keith came from no family but Shiro who would probably be too busy to shower Keith with presents. Why wouldn’t the man just take Keith into his home? Lance just didn’t understand it. Keith obviously wanted to move in, he was clearly bursting at the chance.

Lance wanted to give Keith a present. But he needed to think of what to get him before actually telling his mum to get it. He was on his phone-which he charged with his wand-and going through Amazon. There was a specific section for the wizarding world if you looked hard enough if you were a wizard or a witch. What would you give the person who needed everything in the world? His eyes lit up at an idea and he quickly typed it in.

It was midnight by the time Lance had found the perfect gift. He texted Hunk to find something for Keith, too and to tell Pidge to do it. They couldn’t text Pidge as the girl was adamant on not using a phone. Lance was working on that. Keith didn’t have a phone because Shiro only recently adopted him and the orphanage as short on money.

“You still up?” Sebastian asked as he came in. “Why am I asking that, of course you are, get your stupid butt down here.” Lance laughed as he jumped down and sat on the floor, leaning back on his hands. Sebastian brought out their project from Lance’s trunk. Lance had to empty all his belongings from the trunk and scatter them about the room. “Not that you’re stupid, it’s just...ugh…” Sebastian was terrible with his words, Lance had worked. It was why Sebastian was so slow to answer during the day, because he had to think his words through. When not in classes, he just tried to speak normally and mixed up his words. He would sometimes come out as rude or awkward but Lance didn’t mind.

“Poppy still down there?” Lance asked.

“Nah, she left after someone teased her about being a girl,” Sebastian said, “I can’t believe people are still doing that stereotypical thing. She may be a girl but she’s like...like…”

“One of the top students?” Lance suggested.

“Yeah,” He said in relief, “It’s 2018 and people are still on about it. She was too tired to fight back and went to bed. I think school’s getting a bit too much for her. I’ve been trying to convince her to go back home with me, it’s not working very well. I think I come out as rude? I mean, I  _ came  _ out as rude when I was telling her it.”

“Don’t worry, she must feel like she’d be giving the people the satisfaction of winning if she left,” Lance said. “Maybe try and make this place more homely for her? You did it to me, I’ve been getting through my struggles with this,” Lance gestured. “Why not try and bring home here to her?”

“Lance, you may sound like a moron but you’re a genius!” He said in shock. “Sorry, that came out as rude. But it’s such a great idea!”

“Okay, now shut up about her and focus on me,” Lance said, “I want to get all the attention I can get.”

“I take back what I said about you being a genius.”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“You’re telling me you want us to be cliche and get him gifts?” Pidge asked with her eyebrows raised. Hunk and Lance nodded. Hunk had apparently went straight to online shopping and found a gift for Keith, something about space? They were sitting in the library and were whispering to each other, making sure no one else would hear. “You know, I’m actually fine with that. Problem is, how? I have nothing to search for presents on.”

“This is why you need a phone,” Lance said.

“Stop trying to get me into phones!” Pidge said.

“I have a feeling that once you get one, you’ll be hooked,” Lance said. “I dunno, maybe it’s the nerdy vibe you’re giving off.”

“ _ Geeky _ vibe!” Pidge corrected. “But seriously, what do I buy it on?”

“Ask Matt, he probably has something,” Hunk suggested. “Before you came here, hasn’t he ever sent gifts back?”

“True,” Pidge said, “But, he probably has, like, I dunno, magazines? Those are crap to look for gifts in.”

“Who are we looking at gifts for?”

Lance whipped his head around and grinned. Of course Keith would appear out of nowhere and ask questions like that. Of course he would! He was Keith! But it didn’t help that he almost found out their surprise for him. Keith smiled softly and Lance before sitting next to Pidge, the only remaining seat. Lance really needed Keith’s hand to trace shapes on, it was better than clicking a pen continuously or a hair tie.

“For Shiro,” Lance said coolly. He was awesome at lying. He would know. He had managed to fool Pidge and Hunk every time he was being self-deprecating. Only, Keith just scrunched his eyebrows.  Did he damn well find out Lance was lying to him? Lance knew he wanted that one special friend that knew whenever he was lying, it just didn’t help when he was trying to plan a surprise for that one special friend that needed lying to cover for it.

“I want in,” Keith said, “I say we buy him a sense of humour. His one is just a bunch of jokes about the sweet relief of death,”

“Is that where you get it from?” Lance said.

“Har, har,” Keith said, “But, seriously, can we bring in his boyfriend?”

“Wait, what boyfriend?” Hunk asked. Lance had to agree with this reaction. Lance was an all time fan of Shiro and he didn’t hear anything about Shiro dating anyone! And Lance would have known! Well, Keith probably knew better since he was Shiro’s adopted son. But, since when? Lance felt slightly betrayed in a way. Though, he did feel happy. But, seriously?

“They’ve been dating for like, since they were 15. So like, 6 years? Shiro says he’s about to propose to him, his name is Adam.” Keith explained. “They already live together, they were trying to test out if it would work if they were to actually get together. They’re disgustingly in love. And I want Shiro and him to get together this Christmas,”

“That’s so adorable!” Lance said, “I didn’t know you had a nice side to you!” Lance knew very well he did. Keith was adorable in ways he couldn’t decide. And this just made the fact that Lance found him angelic even greater.

“I forgot how annoying you can be,” Keith said, “I think I might be able to do it, I just need to borrow one of the school’s owls and get a teacher in on it. Adam won’t be able to get in without a teacher’s permission.”

“Matt is a good choice!” Pidge said. “That dude is amazing at what he does! He’s planning on setting pranks throughout the holidays,”

“I just remembered,” Keith said, “You’re leaving tomorrow.”

“And?” Pidge asked.

“I...uh…” Keith cleared his throat. “Can you give me a moment? I need to…” And he left. Lance didn’t need anyone to tell him to go after him. Pidge and Hunk didn’t, Lance knew it wasn’t because they were rude but because Hunk might be good with words and Pidge might be good with facts, they weren’t as good with Keith as Lance was. 

Lance found Keith standing by and open window, his hands gripping tightly on the sill, and he was breathing deeply. Lance stood by him and let his hand cup Keith’s. “She isn’t going to forget the friendships we made this year,” Lance reassured him. “She isn’t going to forget about how you’re such a dork and that you need to be hugged every few seconds,” He continued, “You might find it awkward when she comes back, because she might have changed slightly, but it’s the same Pidge.”

“What if she comes back different?” Keith whispered, “Like, she wants nothing to do with me because of all the cool stuff she does at home.”

“Who would ever want nothing to do with you?” Lance asked. “I wouldn’t, and trust me, she’ll be here and come back the same. Trust me.”

“I trust you,” Keith said, “I know there’s actually no reason to be this...nervous? It’s just, like, I just can’t control how nervous I get at times. You know?”

“Definitely,” Lance nodded, “You want to go back?” Keith nodded and they headed back to their table. “He’s just upset that you’re ditching him and might change,” Lance said. “Which I doubt, how can you change Pidge? She’ll always be a nerd.”

“GEEK!” She corrected. Keith let out a laugh and Lance smiled in relief. “And nothing can change me, Keith. It will take a whole damn lot to change me."   


“And she’ll probably mope around,” Hunk said. “She’ll want to be here, reading out the entire library.”

“We technically did,” Pidge pointed out, “From Project Fluffy?”

“True,” Lance said. “I think I just read everything I need to know on Potions.”

“But that doesn’t mean you remember everything.” Hunk said. “I know how that brain of yours works. What did you eat for breakfast?”

“I dunno?” Lance said, “Bacon?”

“You ate toast.” Hunk sighed, “You ate toast.”

They spent the rest of the day by messing around in the library, making this one of the more memorable nights in Lance’s eyes. Pidge might be leaving the next day, but that made the fun many times fun. Lance couldn’t remember how the night had ended, but he knew for a fact all of them were excited.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 


	6. A Bonding Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is around the corner and Pidge had left. They still need to find out who Flamel is but having moments with your friends is much more important to Lance at the moment.

Pidge had left.

She had left along with her father and brother leaving Lance alone with Hunk and Keith. Right now, Hunk and Keith were playing wizarding chess in the Hall. Shiro had let Houses mix during lunch at holidays, Lance was glad for that. Hunk was beating the crap out of Keith and the raven haired boy was getting frustrated. This had resulted in Lance jumping in and them tag teaming Hunk. They were neck and neck until Lance stared at the empty tables around him and Hunk took it to his advantage and beat them.

“Hey,” Hunk said, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

“We are!” Keith and Lance said in unison. “We hate this damn game!”

“Keith, I know you’re, like, perfect at everything.” Hunk said. “And Lance, I know you hate losing. But, think of this as training. As good as you two are at school, you’re eventually going to crash at something.”

“But who says I wanted this training?” Keith demanded. “I regret ever joining you,”

“Same here,” Lance grumbled. “I hate this training.”

“Guys, calm down.” Hunk said. “Also! Good news! Pidge told me that Matt is staying behind at Hogsmeade to get Adam here. We just have distract Shiro so Adam can get in. And Lance, the presents should be arriving soon.” Lance nodded at the last fact. This meant that everyone had ordered their gifts for Keith and they were going to arrive on Christmas day.

“We should all open our presents together!” Lance suggested, giving a side glance at Keith.

“Are you sure?” Keith asked, “I won’t have much to open,”

“Yeah, I’m totally sure,” Lance said, “We should make sure your first Christmas with us is amazing! Speaking of which, I have to go!” He jumped out of his seat and ran, only catching a glimpse at Keith’s quizzical expression and Hunk’s one raised eyebrow. He knew it must have looked pretty weird to do that but he didn’t mind. He needed to do something. He rushed into the Gryffindor commons room and skidded to a stop in front of his sister. Her friends had left for home and she was peacefully reading a book by the fireplace. She always acted much older than she actually was.

“What do you need?” She asked sweetly. “Is something wrong?” Her eyes searched for any visible marks on Lance.

“I want to introduce you to someone,” Lance said. “You’ve met all of my friends but not this one. He’s kind of shy around new people, I think he may have some sort of anxiety? Social anxiety?” Lance rambled on. “But, I want him to meet my family. And you’re here now, and everything, but I want him to feel like he’s part of our family, because that’s what I think of him.”

“Calm down, Lancelot,” Their mother had named him after this hero to inspire Lance to be brave, “I understand what you’re saying, I don’t need anymore convincing, take me to this friend of yours.”

They walked their way back to the Hall and sat down at their table. “Hi, Veronica,” Hunk said softly. Lance noticed that Hunk and Keith were playing again.

“Are you serious?” Lance said, “I want in!” He sat closer to Keith and laced their hands together. It was so much of a habit now that his hand felt cold without Keith’s. “Keith, this is my sister, Veronica, she’s in her second year here,” He said softly.

“Nice to meet you,” Keith stuttered out, “I’m Keith Kogane,”

“OH!” Veronica’s eyes widened, “You’re that kid Lance won’t shut up about!”

“You’re such a betrayer!” Lance said with a glare. Hunk was laughing, he was laughing way too hard. Keith was looking down at his lap with his teeth worrying at his bottom lip. “But there’s no denying it, Keith is definitely someone to talk about so much, he’s such an adorable dork,”

“See?” Veronica said, “He sounds like that in the commons room. It was like I was preparing to meet a new family member, or something. Well, since you’re Lance’s friend. You’re practically already family,”

“Pidge and I are already part of their family,” Hunk said. “We met her a few months ago.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you sooner,” Veronica said, “I have been drowning in homework. I seriously was not prepared for my second year here. They make your first year so easy that the second year is like hell,”

“You make it sound like I should be worried,” Lance said. “I shouldn’t be worried until my fifth year, stop making me feel worried.” He narrowed his eyes on her.

“Sisters are meant to make you uneasy,” Veronica teased.

“So do Slytherins, especially on Gryffindors,” Keith piped up. Lance playfully punched his arm and he grinned. “I’m losing at this so bad, how can I be so bad at this?”

“You can’t be perfect at everything, Keefers,” Lance patted him on the back. “Like Hunk said, it’s training,”

“Says the person that complained after I said that,” Hunk glared at him. “Veronica, they’re both such hypocrites!”

“You three are so adorable!” Veronica gushed. “Luis is going to laugh at you so much!”

“He’s going to laugh at me either way,” Lance pointed out, “That boy is so rude, he can live without that souvenir I promised him.”

“You promised to get him something, you just can’t back out!” Veronica said.

“Yeah, and what am I supposed to get him, huh?” Lance asked. “A pen pot?”

“True, what can you get here at school?” Keith agreed. “Maybe you can steal something from Matt’s office. It’s not like he’s going to miss anything in there.”

“Or I can just give him a sock?” Lance asked. “A stinky sock,” He corrected.

“I find your brother adorable,” Hunk said.

“You only think that because of all those times he gushes about your food.” Lance said. “That boy is a bottomless pit!”

“Like you aren’t,” Keith fired back with a smile. “All those times you sneak in food during class, how are you not fat?”

“Because the Lord made me a heavenly body?” Lance suggested.

“I’m going,” Veronica groaned. “I’ll see you at dinner, I hope you like your presents when you get them,” She said before leaving.

Keith visibly sagged in relief and sighed. “It’s not like I’m nervous, or anything,” He said. “I’m just bad against new people. I always feel like they’re thinking bad about me. But, they’re so nice and I don’t know why I think that,” He thought for a second, “You don’t think that’s weird, right?”

“No, definitely not,” Hunk and Lance said in unison.

“How about this summer,” Lance said, “We buy ourselves a pet? I’m tired of using the owls and stuff. And Keith, you don’t have a phone. I can’t talk to you at night, it’s annoying. Same with Pidge,”

“But…” Keith said. “I don’t have any money of my own…”

“Think of it like a birthday present, then?” Lance offered. “Nothing like that charity crap you were spouting about in the beginning of the year. Just friends pitching in for a present for you. How about that?”

“Wait,” Keith breathed out. “When’s your birthday? You never told me.”

“It’s on the-” Lance started. “What do you mean you don’t have money? Shouldn’t the orphanage be keeping up your Gringotts’ account?” That was really strange, Keith should at least have his parent’s money.

“When my parents were murdered,” Keith said wobbly, “Someone had broken into their Gringotts’ account and burned everything in there. And, I don’t live in a wizarding orphanage, I live in a Muggle orphanage.”

“Does that mean,” Hunk started, “You’ve been comparing us to Muggles this whole time?”

Keith’s face burned up but he let loose a smile. “You know what, I keep forgetting we’re different from them. It’s actually a very easy mistake to make, trust me.” He said. “We’re all technically biologically human and have the same organs and everything. It’s just we can do this,” He pointed his wand and Lance and lifted him up. “I should have never done that. You’re way too tall,” He said before putting Lance down.

“Stand up,” Lance said, “I actually want to see who is taller,” Lance said. He didn’t even wait for Keith to answer as he just grabbed Keith by the sides of his arms and they stood nose to nose. Lance’s eyes flicked towards Hunk. “Tell me, who is taller?”

“You,” Hunk said, “By only half an inch. Keith could easily catch up.”

“Nope, no, nope, nope, no!” Lance said quickly. “That will never happen!” He continued. “That’s like saying Pidge is older than us.”

“I am so offended right now,” Keith said with a look of fake hurt. “I think I’ll probably murder you.”

“Yeah, but not before I murder you!” Lance yelled and jumped out of his seat. He grinned like the devil before charging towards Keith. The poor boy didn’t notice what he was doing before Lance was close. Keith elbowed him in the stomach before jumping out of his seat and running. Lance waggled his eyebrows at Hunk before sprinting off in the general direction Keith had ran off in. He could hear Hunk struggling to pack up the chess set and running after them.

Lance finally found Keith still running in a corridor with a few students. People were looking at them but Lance didn’t mind. Lance noticed Keith’s footing as the boy slipped on his robes and fell backwards onto Lance. The Cuban boy took this to his advantage and-

“Stop tickling me!” Keith wheezed. He was laughing with tears coming out of his eyes. Lance knew the boy could easily get out of his grip but was staying in Lance’s arms. Keith’s comment only made Lance’s fingers linger towards his waist. “Oh! Lance!” He cried out with a laugh. Lance could hear a few students whisper and Hunk had finally caught up to them.

“I actually thought you two were actually going to murder each other,” Hunk said in a whispered shock. “But this was slightly anti-climatic. Except, we now found out that Keith is ticklish!”

“No, I’m not going to be the only one going down tonight!” Keith said shakily before straddling Lance’s hips and tickling the boy at his waist. But… “WHY AREN’T YOU LAUGHING!” Keith asked in shock.

“Who says I have to be ticklish?” Lance smirked. “I could always pretend, if you want, but…” His eyes drifted towards Hunk. Keith seemed to understand what he was going at because he got off Lance’s hips and lunged at Hunk, dragging the boy onto his back. Keith attacked him with ticked near his armpits and Lance attacked his waist.

“YOU GUYS ARE DEVIL SPAWN!” Hunk wheezed out. “You know I’m too damn ticklish for life!” He was choking on his laughter, tears streaming. Lance waited until he noticed any signs of discomfort before stopping. Hunk gave him a grateful look. “You two better not tickle me anytime soon, I’m sore now.”

“Laughter is the best medicine,” Keith said.

“More like the worst pain,” Hunk muttered.

“HA! Double negatives!” Lance pointed out. “You like it! Admit it!” Lance said.

“I am so leaving!” Hunk said. “I will not speak to you until this soreness goes away! I’m going to Shay!” He said before leaving.

“Meet you at Matt’s office?” Lance asked, turning his attention wholly on Keith. The boy’s hair was messed up and his cheeks were red from all the laughing. He was still breathing unevenly but he was fixing his robes, making sure they were away from his feet to ensure he wouldn’t slip up again. “I don’t want to be the only one searching.”

“Who said I was going to ditch you?” Keith asked. “I bet I will be there before you,”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

Turns out, Lance came to Matt’s office first.

The room was filled with hundreds of books, books Pidge had chosen for them to read while she did the same at her home. Matt didn’t mind the books in there as not many people chose to go into his office as he was an Astronomy professor, not many student’s liked his classes as it was always in the evening. Lance and his friends had to differ, they personally loved space. They each had their own stories that they hadn’t told each other but they knew space was magnificent.

Lance sat on the ottoman by the window with a book in hand. Keith burst into the room, clearly thinking he was there first. His eyes landed on Lance’s smirking face and rolled his eyes, picked up a book and sat with Lance. “Not a word. I was held back.” Keith muttered. Lance noticed the small bruise at the side of his face but decided not to question it. He didn’t think Keith would like him asking but he really wanted to know what had happened so he could fix it.

Matt then entered the office and was about to enter his bedroom before stopping. “I was thinking, what are you guys actually looking for?” Matt asked. “Is it some kind of weird joke? A secret mission or something? Because, if it is, I want in.”

“I could always just lie to you,” Lance said with an eyebrow raised.

“Same,” Matt said, “Shiro just wanted to know what’s up with Keith. This morning with all the screeching down the hall? Shiro didn’t even know if Keith could make that sound,”

“What, laughing?” Lance said. “Is Adam here? When are you going to leave for home?”

“In an hour,” Matt said, “Adam is here. He’s right now in my bedroom eating crisps,”

“Relatable,” Lance said. “I think I like him already,”

“I did too,” Keith said, “I’ll tell you about how I met him later,”

“Oh,” Lance said, “Matt? Can we stay here overnight?”

“Yeet,” Matt said, “I’ll go notify Shiro after I check up on Adam,” He left only for a moment into his bedroom before coming back out. “He heard your voice Keith, he wants to see you. He looks like he’s going to strangle you with a hug.”

“Can’t he wait for Christmas? It’s in a few days,” Keith said quietly, “I’d love to see him. But, I want to see him on Christmas. I don’t think it’s fair on the others if I get to see my dad when they can’t,”

“I’m guessing this is why Adam loves you so much,” Matt said, “Suit yourself,” He opened his bedroom door a crack and whispered something before heading out of the office.

It had been a few hours until Lance got up from his seat and startling Keith. “I’m going to get this bed thing ready,” Lance explained. Matt had left behind an air mattress and he dragged it onto the floor near the window. He fluffed the pillows and got out two blankets. “You know what? I don’t trust myself!” Lance said before placing a couple of books in a line near the middle. Keith went on sat on one side and Lance on the other.

“Why?” Keith asked, still sitting. He was gesturing at the divide Lance had made on the air mattress. Lance was laying on his back and covering his eyes with his arm. “I’m not saying I mind, but, why?”

“I’m a cuddler,” Lance explained softly. “I would cuddle my little brother, Luis, when we were younger. He didn’t grow out of it and would always creep into my bed with a scowl on his face. I think he didn’t like the idea that he likes cuddling with me. Veronica always done it with me, as well. And I know how much you don’t like things like touching, so…”

“I’m fine if it’s with people I actually like and have known for a while,” Keith whispered before lying down. “I’m just not used to it.”

“Explain to me about your orphanage,” Lance blurted out. “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I’d like to know. I hate feeling guilty for not knowing how to help you. And I know you have a problem with the orphanage, you’re bad at hiding that fact. And I want to know why, because I hate that place without even knowing why. Because I obviously care about you,”

There was a silence.

“I’ve been in there since birth,” Keith said as he lay down on his side, facing Lance. Lance hadn’t piled books near their faces in fear of an injury, but it was worth it. He could see Keith’s face. “After my parents were murdered the night I was born, I was taken into an orphanage. The wizarding world didn’t know whether I was a Muggleborn or not and took the chance of thinking I was Muggleborn and put me into an orphanage. The owner was a wizard and he has a son a little older than us, third year and goes to some school I can’t pronounce. They’re jerks.”

“What did they do?” Lance grit through his teeth.

“They would shackle me to the wall and beat me if I don’t do what they intended. They were terrible. I have scars on my back. I can’t take it when people look like they want to hurt me because those scenes always just come back to me.” Keith said shakily. “I don’t even know why they do it! But the other kids at the orphanage picked up on it instantly.”

“Did they help?” Lance hoped they did. He couldn’t stand the image of a young Keith beaten and hurt with no one to help him. He would have helped, definitely. He still would. He didn’t want to cradle Keith and baby him, he just wanted to beat up those jerks. Keith was good enough on his own to heal himself and beat up those two as well.

“No,” Keith said through gritted teeth. He must have hated the idea of them not helping. “They just made it worse. They would take my tray of food, starve me for a while, and beat me up when the owner and his son wouldn’t. You could only imagine how happy I was when Shiro turned up.”

“I actually can,” Lance physically hurt at the fact kids could do that. Lance had always grown up in a familial pattern, even without his father.

“He started turning up around when I was 5, so he was around 15. Around the time he started to date Adam. He would come around every week and talk with me. It wasn’t until he turned 21, around the time Alfor died, that he decided to adopt me.” Keith said. “I still can’t wait until I get to live with him and Adam,”

“Tell me about when you first met Adam,” Lance said. “I’ll tell you something about me afterwards.”

“You don’t have to,” Keith said, “I would have told you anyways if you asked. I don’t really like starting a conversation, but I’m fine if you start it. But, I met Adam around the fifth time Shiro came around. He came with Shiro and came running to me and hugged me. You can’t believe how shocked I was, I never really touched anyone or got touched by anyone. So I was almost scared at that point.”

“What if I just hold you hand like I always do?” Lance asked. “Like this?” He moved away a couple of books and let his hand touch Keith’s. “You had asked me when my birthday was. I’m just going to say a story and let you figure it out,” Lance said.

“That is so not fair!” Keith said. “I just said it straight out!”

“My father was murdered by Lord Zarkon when I was 6.” That silenced Keith. “On my birthday. The creep was coming for me, for some reason, and my father died to save me. I saw Lord Zarkon go out into a puff of smoke. I told the Ministry of Magic and they seemed to think he was dead. Alfor was the only one that thought he could just be in hiding,” Lance said. “He took me aside and told me a story. A story about a boy whose parents who had been killed when he was born for the same reason as mine. Lord Zarkon had tried killing his parents and their parents sacrificed themselves for him. It was on his birthday too. Which was also mine. To the date and the year.”

Keith’s eyes widened as he sat up abruptly. He looked at Lance with his mouth opening and closing, figuring out what he was trying to say. Lance was surprised when Keith threw himself onto Lance and hugged him. It must have been mighty uncomfortable as Keith was digging his thighs onto the book divider. “Hey, man, it’s okay,” Lance said as he patted Keith’s back. Keith was actually crying into his chest. “I know you think that no one out there loves you. But, what about Shiro? He’s adopting you and has been visiting you every week before that! Adam is behind that door right now, dying to give you the hug of your life. Pidge loves you, and trust me, she would have told you outright if she didn’t like you. Hunk wants to cuddle you every damn second because you’re like a human teddy bear.”

“What about you?” Keith asked, voice muffled by Lance’s robes.

“I guess you’ll find out on Christmas,” Lance said softly. “OW!” He whined when Keith elbowed him with a glare. Keith pulled himself away with a glare directed towards Lance.

“You are such a prick!” Keith muttered. “Here I was, giving you a hug! Mind you, I don’t give those out very much! And you ruin the moment by saying you’ll tell me at Christmas! Which is in two days! I’m not that patient! Tell me now!”   
  
“Well, I guess this is my cue to fall asleep,” Lance faked a yawn which Keith glared at him more before lying back down.

“I hate you, you know that?” Keith whispered into the darkness.

“I love you, too, my friend, I love you, too.”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️


	7. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CHRISTMAS IS HERE AND READY TO SHINE!

It was CHRISTMAS!

Lance launched out of his bed. He didn’t care if he made a lot of noise as none of his roommates were with him at the moment, they all ditched him for home. He ran into the commons room and to the tree where his sister was waiting for him with a smirk. She was already holding a few things in her hand and was about to unwrap them. “When are you going to open yours? I’m guessing now?” She said with a smug look. Normally, Lance would have scowled because that’s totally what he would have done. HE LOVED AND LIVED FOR CHRISTMAS! He would open his presents first thing and even drag himself out of his wonderful sleep because it was CHRISTMAS, DUH!

“Ha, jokes on you, I’m waiting until I meet with Hunk and Keith in the Hall.” Lance stuck his tongue out. Veronica blinked before recovering smoothly.

“I’m sure you’ll love what mum, Luis, and I got you.” Veronica said in a singsong voice. Lance stared at her. Wait as second…

“THAT’S CHEATING!” Lance said in outrage. “YOU CAN’T JUST SHARE A PRESENT! YOU’RE MEANT TO GIVE YOUR OWN TO SHOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE FOR ME!”

“I’m sure you’ll cry when you find out what’s in it,” Veronica smiled sweetly. Right now it seemed condescending to Lance but he knew deep down that she was just being sweet. He knew it but it’s so not fair! He grumbled a few words to her before scooping up his presents and heading towards the Hall. There was a very small package at the top of his pile, he could just barely see it as it was high up in his arms now, it better not be from his family. So small…

Keith and Hunk were already there. They were sitting at the Gryffindor table-Thank you Shiro for letting Houses mix during holidays-and Keith had a face of pure shock. Hunk was grinning ear to ear. As Lance neared, he could understand how Keith felt. Even if the boy had way less than Lance and Hunk, the amount he had right now must have been all he dreamed for. He only had 6 packages, 4 of which Lance knew the owners of. They must have been from him, Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro. Who were the other 2 from? Adam?

“I bet that must have been a mighty shock for you,” Lance said with a smug smirk. Keith stared at him with his mouth clumsily opening and closing, not knowing what to say or what to do.

“You did this?” Keith finally asked, “If you di-”

“It’s not pity,” Lance said quickly which Keith made a face at.

“I was actually going to say thank you,” Keith said. “Are you ever going to let me live that down?” He asked. Lance shook his head and carefully laid his presents out on the table.

“Keith, I think you should go first to open your prese-no,” Lance cut himself off, “I think Shiro should, I took care of his work last night. Hunk, bring in Adam,”

Keith and Lance messed around for a few minutes before Hunk arrived at the door, with Adam behind the door. Lance smirked before standing on the Gryffindor table. He looked at Shiro who had a raised eyebrow. “Headmaster, Shiro. Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and I have brought in someone special with the help of Matt.” Lance said. Shiro registered his words and his eyes slowly widened. “I bring you, the boyfriend of the year, ADAM!” Lance said really loudly as a cue for the man to come in. Adam came in at a delay and waved shyly at Shiro.

“ADAM?” Shiro yelled in surprise. Lance watched as they rushed towards each other and gave each other an embrace. Lance quickly looked towards where Keith was sitting, a large smile playing on the boy’s face, and he quickly went back to looking at the two grown men. “I’m so sorry for not being able to go back home,” Shiro rambled on,” Keith was here and I’m Headmaster and you’re so amazing, and you’re amazing self is here an-”

“Shiro,” Adam said with a goofy smile, “You might want to shut up before you embarrass yourself even more,”

“Make me!” Shiro grinned before kissing him.

“EW!” Lance yelled before jumping off the table and sitting back down on his seat. Hunk and Keith were opposite him with large smiles on their face as the couple went to the teacher’s table.

“You did really good, Lance,” Hunk said, “They’re so great for each other! I didn’t think I’d ever see Shiro look so giddy before,”

“I have,” Keith said, “It was when Adam found his wand in the sofa. That was a  _ long  _ summer,”

“OPEN YOUR GODDAMN PRESENT, KEITH!” Lance motioned for the boy to do so.

“Okay, geez, why are you so worked up?” Keith asked as unwrapped one of the presents. It was a deep green hoodie with a logo on the front. Keith turned it around and Lance instantly recognised it. It was a hoodie for the Irish team, one that Lance hated as his favourite team was rivals with it. There was a number on it, written in white, that that said 1 and a name under it, Thace, also in white. Lance knew all about that man, he was in 14 and got put into his nation team. He was a prodigy, and Lance could admit bitterly that he was good.

“Keith, how could you?” Lance said with a fake hurt look. Keith looked over at him before smirking. “Seriously, how? How could you like that Irish team!”

“And what team do you support, then?” Keith asked. “I only picked this because it’s typically all I see near the orphanage, it’s given from Pidge.”

“Of course,” Lance said. “I take after the Bulgarian team,”

“Now that hurts me,” Keith shot back.

“I side with Bulgaria,” Hunk said.

“That’s unfair! You can’t just team up on me!” Keith said hotly and they stuck their tongues out, “Whatever,” He said before unwrapping another present. “This is by Shiro,” It was a brooch of the Irish Quidditch team. Lance knew for a fact that Shiro didn't care for choosing favorites in Quidditch, so he must have given it to Keith because Keith liked the team. Keith quickly pinned it onto the jumped he was wearing. “I am so going to wear this on my robes,” He said quickly before opening the next one. “Hunk?” He said and his eyes flicked towards the boy.

There was a lunar chart and maps of the stars all in one book. Lance recognised those. They were his. He glared at Hunk. “What the heck?” Lance whispered.

“Hear me out,” Hunk said, “You and Keith love Astronomy so much it’s unhealthy. Also like me and Pidge. So I went out of my way and used a spell to copy all of our things about space. Most of it had Lance’s stuff since he always lets me see his book. They’re actually really good notes and Pidge’s had a lot of mythology involved. Mine has stuff like Zodiac signs and such.”

“Okay, I’ll let you off the hook, it’s pretty cool…” Lance grumbled.

“Hunk, this is so sweet,” Keith smiled at him. He went to open the next one that was so obviously not Lance’s. “By Coran…” He said. It was a throw pillow, one that was obviously made to be cuddled with. It was red with writing in white. It read:

HOT TEMPERED BUT EASY TO LOVE

“This would definitely come in handy,” Keith whispered. Lance instantly understood. When Keith was getting upset, which was bound to happen, he could clutch onto the pillow. It was awfully thoughtful of Coran that it made Lance shameful of his gift. Keith went to open the next present which was still not Lance’s. “This one has no name on it,” He said. He pulled out a knife. The blade was purple with white outlines and the knife was weirdly designed as a sword. The hilt had an easy grip to it but the thing that caught Lance’s eye was the symbol etched onto it. It was vaguely familiar to him, though he didn’t know why. “I love it,” Keith said with shining eyes.

“Put it away before Shiro sees,” Hunk suggested, “Unless, you know, you’re fine with him just taking that thing you love away from you.” Keith instantly hid it in his jeans.

The last present was small and was by Lance. He knew it didn’t look like much but he knew Keith would like it. Though, Hunk was glaring at him. He must have thought Lance found a cheap way of escaping buying something heartfelt. JOKES ON HIM!

“Lance…” Keith whispered as he opened the wrapper.

It was a ring.

The ban was thin but what caught everyone’s eyes was the jewel at the middle of it. It was a deep blue with tiny diamonds surrounding it. Keith stared at it with shocked eyes. He held it up into the light and the light refracted from it. Shiro even noticed and stared at the ring, coming down from the teacher’s table to come and take a look with Adam.

“Who was the one that gave you that?” Adam asked, eyeing Lance and Hunk.

“Lance…” Keith whispered again like a broken track. He leaned across the table and gave Lance a hug. This was really uncomfortable as Lance’s chest was digging into the table and Keith’s thighs were also digging into the table. Though, Lance didn’t care much. Keith was so happy, that he was crying with joy. “Why?” He said in a whisper as he sat back down, wiping the tears in clear embarrassment.

“Because,” Lance said, trying to phrase the words right, “Even when you think no one else loves you, that ring will remind you that I always will. No matter what.”

“Lance,” Shiro said, “That is way too much, how much does it cost so I could repay you,”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lance said, “I don’t need to be repaid, I just want him to put it on,”

“I don’t think it will fit,” Keith whispered. But he put it on his ring finger on his dominant hand, his right, and the ring quickly adjusted to his size.

“You didn’t think I thought this through, did you?” Lance smirked, “I want you to always wear that so it will quickly change itself to suit you.”

“Lance, I feel like if I look at you, I will cry,” Adam said. “Shiro, come on, I don’t want to cry,”   


“You are,” Shiro sighed.

“Then let’s go so I can stop,” Adam said and they left.

“HUNK, IT’S YO TURN!” Lance grinned at him. Hunk rolled his eyes before picking up a large package.

“By my mum,” Hunk said and he opened it up to reveal a telescope set. It was taken apart at the moment but Lance knew Hunk would easily set it up. He was a slight bit jealous bu- “Lance, Keith, I’ll let you borrow it. I see y’all drooling for this,” Hunk laughed. Lance grinned and turned to see Keith was also making that dazed face Lance was making. His small fingers were already playing with his ring. Awe.

“This is by Pidge,” Hunk said before revealing a deep red hoodie with white letters and number. His one read 3 and Sven. That was Shiro’s older brother. He was raised somewhere far away from Shiro, though they knew each other very well, and had a slight accent. Well, slight was an understatement. Lance could see why Hunk would like Sven.

“Hunk, I seriously thought you had better taste,” Keith said jokingly. Hunk stuck his tongue out before putting it on. Keith seemed to get the idea before unpinning his brooch, putting his hoodie on, and pinning it on. “I guess we’re rivals?”

“Say that to Lance, weren’t you two the ones that would get at each other’s throats?” Hunk teased.

“Keith, my man, we’re over that, right?” Lance asked.

“Obviously, we even had a bonding moment,” Keith laughed.

“Nope, never happened, don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lance laughed.

“What? But I cradled you in my arms!” Keith said. Lance did remember that, obviously. It was a little after they spoke and said night, before Keith just hugged him then went to bed. It was a little of a surprise. But Lance couldn’t help but tease Keith.

“What?” Lance said. “I didn’t knew you care, but that never happened,” Keith flushed and he was fuming. “Hunk, would you like to continue as Keith gets over himself?”. Keith growled. That was cute.

“This is by Keith,” Hunk said in surprise. “How?”

“Shiro helped me,” Keith said in a stutter, “Open it,”

“IT’S A GODDAMNED PASS TO LET ME COOK IN THE KITCHEN!” Hunk roared. “OH! HOW!”

“I told Shiro how much you liked to bake and cook. And he knew near exams that you’d be stressed and would like to break out some anxiety. Also, the Hall would be extra hungry at that period of time. So, he made it look like hitting two birds with one stone. I just think he’s soft and doesn’t like admitting he’s soft.”

“Keith, thanks! AND THANKS SHIRO!” Hunk made sure Shiro heard. “This is by Lance,” He said before opening it. “Lance, you’re a goddamn genius.” Hunk whispered before revealing an empty notebook. The pages in it were blank, no lines, and were entirely for Hunk.

“It’s for when he wants to write down recipes. His parents never was into this kind of stuff. I want Hunk’s future family to be able to make what Hunk makes. And Hunk forgets easily.” Lance explained to Keith.

“It’s now your turn, Lance,” Keith said to him. He leaned in closer in Lance’s general direction and was looking intently at Lance’s things. He was probably expecting something grand, Lance knew most of these would probably be quills and books. And he was right, his grandmother had given him a book to write as a diary. Lance knew some people would look at it as childish but he knew he wanted to remember most of his time here to tell stories about it in the future. He knew his kids would want to hear and his little brother would too. It would also be great to reminisce in. His grandmother had been giving these empty blank pages for years because she knew him so well. He wrote in such a way that made it so it sounded more like a story or a novel. It would be easy to read off of. This time the diary would be for his first year of Hogwarts.

“That’s so sweet,” Keith and Hunk gushed to him.

“This is by Pidge, I think I already know what it is,” It was a hoodie. Deep red like Hunk’s with white lettering. The number 1 dominated the back with the name Acxa underneath it. The material was soft under his skin and the lettering was part of the material, so it wouldn’t crease very easily. He slipped it on and was amazed at the fit. How did Pidge know his size? It was a little big, probably because Pidge knew Lance was a growing boy.

“I’m guessing Pidge has her own Irish one?” Lance asked in fake distaste.

“We’d be matching,” Keith stuck his tongue out.

“What about us?” Lance asked, “What about everything we’ve been through? Why can’t we match?”

“That was a smooth reference,” Hunk noted. He had noticed Lance singing the first two sentences. Keith just blinked.

“Am I supposed to know this?” He asked slowly.

“When you come over to my house,” Lance said, “I’m showing you all the High School Musical movies. Everyone in this year knows it, even if it was made by Muggles!”

“I learn something new everyday,” Keith laughed. “Isn’t it American? Why do you know this?”

“You can’t understand how addicting it is,” Lance said. He opened the next gift. “By Hunk,” It was the same thing Keith got. It didn’t take away the awe Lance got. “Let me guess, you made one for yourself? Proves we’re all friends?”

“Of course,” Hunk winked.

“That was awfully sweet,” Keith said as Lance flipped through the pages. It was an A5 sized book with everything scaled down. His hand-drawn constellations were amazing in this and Pidge’s work on myths were amazing. Everything was scattered in a neat array. Keith’s work on context and such was a work of art. Doodles were everywhere with lots of little notes with the bigger notes. Lance understood everything, though.

“This is by Keith,” Lance said. “You tell me that my present for you was expensive, but this must be worth just as much as it!” It was a watch. It was a deep blue with the numbers as roman numerals. The roman numerals were in gold and so was the rim of the watch. The strap was a deep blue and Lance quickly put it on his left wrist. “You, my man, are such a hypocrite,”

“I thought you deserved it, putting up with me and everything,” Keith said, “I know I’m a difficult person to be with and everything, but thanks.” He was messing around with the ring before quieting himself. “It’s a thank you for being my friend. I know what you love so I gave each of you something you love.” He said, even giving a smile to Hunk.

“That is so cute,” Hunk smiled at him.

“Thanks, dude,” Lance gave him a lopsided smile. “And this is from my family. That cheat.” Lance made sure to lean back to glare at his sister who just winked at him. He sighed before leaning back to where he was and unwrapping his gift.

He gasped and almost dropped it.

If it weren’t for Keith catching it, the present would have been lost or broken or both. “Lance, what’s wrong? Should we throw it away?” Keith asked in concern.

“Why would his family send him something that he would throw away?” Hunk asked.

Keith slowly gave it back to Lance and he held it in his hand.

It was his mother’s wedding ring.

It was a silver band with a red jewel on the top. It had small diamonds surrounding it, matching Keith’s. It was what made Lance want to give it to his friend because it would be special for the both of them. Lance knew his mother loved this ring with her very being and he was holding it up to the light.

This ring started with Lance’s great-grandfather who wanted to buy his wife an engagement/wedding ring. He thought diamonds were too generic and wouldn’t be worth his future wife. So he saved up money for years to buy this jewel: the Taaffeite. It was so rare in the Muggle world that it was almost impossible to find it to buy. It had taken a while and he bought it, made the ring band himself and fused the jewel with a few diamonds to give to his girlfriend. His great-grandmother had cried and they went and got married.

It was a tradition in the McClain family for the oldest male to now propose and get married with this ring to their partner. His father was the last one to own it before giving it to Lance’s mother. It was on their last day of school, during their graduation, where he decided to make a scene on the stage and propose right then and there. Lance supposed that was where he got his flair for dramatics.

“What is it, Lance?” Hunk asked. Lance quickly put it on his finger, he knew the ring would adjust to his size and it did. It made his long fingers look even bigger but he didn’t mind.

“My great-grandfather made this,” Lance explained weakly, “It was the tradition to give it to the oldest son so they can propose with it and use it as an engagement and wedding ring for their partner. This was my mum’s…”   


“Lance…” Keith said. He had jumped over the table and was sitting with Lance, head on Lance’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around Lance’s left arm. Hunk quickly did the same to Lance’s right arm after coming around to their side. Lance was indeed crying. Of course, his family would do this. McClains were sweet and dramatic people, even the people they married were sweet and dramatic!

“I have another one,” Lance said as he wiped his tears away “This is by… I don’t know…”

“Do you think it’s by the same person who gave Keith the...you know…?” Hunk didn’t need to say the word out loud, the knife. It didn’t make sense as to why that person would give them this present and not name themselves. Let alone give a present to both Keith and Lance specifically. Lance slowly opened it, expecting some kind of bond, but was met with a silky material.

It appeared to look like it was silver and turned white in the light. Lance quickly picked up the material before putting his arm in one of the sleeves. He quickly brought his arm out of sight from any outsider.

His arm was gone.

“An invisibility cloak!” Hunk said in a hushed tone.

“They actually make those?” Keith asked. “I thought it would be a joke, like witches being ugly.”

“Well, they’re rare and based off of the original. I’ll tell you the story of that some time. This is so cool!” Hunk said.

“Does this mean we can get into the restricted area of the library?” Lance asked at the same time as Keith.

“NOPE!” Hunk said. “I’m not going with you. I might help you get in, but I won’t go with you! I like the way my body is and not getting into as much trouble as you two do.”

“Keith, you in?” Lance asked in a challenging tone. This was no longer the heated fights they used to have. Just a bunch of empty threats and teasing to get the other motivated. He enjoyed this much more than what they used to have.

“Unless you’re too scared,” Keith shot back.

“You two are adorable, but I think you might want to talk about this somewhere else,” Hunk said, “People can hear you two,”

“LANCE!” Coran yelled behind them. All three of them tensed in shock before quickly recovering. “I am so sorry for not giving you your gifts fast enough! Keith’s one was the first and easiest to make, but here!” Coran handed Lance and Hunk a pillow each. Hunk also was given Pidge’s to hang onto. Each had a separate message but Lance’s said:

 

Heartbreaker of the century!

Make way for the King!

 

“Coran!” Lance said in a tone of awe, “YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE!”

Coran flushed before running off to give the other gifts to the teacher’s table.

“That was cute,” Keith said. “He’s almost like an uncle to me,”   


“And you’re like my brother,” Hunk said to him, “You, too, Lance.”   


“Brother,” Keith said as if testing the words before breaking into a smile. Lance was sure he was going to write this in his diary when he caught up with the events up to now in there. This was a beautiful Christmas.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️


	8. Mirror of Erised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is seeing what makes you happy always a good thing?

The problem with the plan was the fact that Pidge and Matt weren’t here.

They needed the two for a number of reasons. Like they needed Pidge to help formulate a plan to get in there without them getting caught. They needed Matt because Matt was probably going to be involved in it all. So, all they could do was wait. Wait in aggravation.

So, naturally, Lance couldn’t wait.

He and Keith were impatient in that way. Well, Keith was and it rubbed off on Lance. So, that was how Lance found himself putting on the invisibility cloak. Hunk had sewed it in a way so that it was only a blanket and not a cloak. It suited Lance’s needs much better this way. He could snuggle into it or sneak out much more easily. The cloak version made it so he would always trip over it and be caught by Keith before Lance could surprise attack him.

But tonight wasn’t for surprise attacks.

Lance knew Shiro was making it so students wouldn’t get into certain areas, and dude, he should understand it was for his safety, but no! Lance wanted to know why! It was in his nature to not do as he was told. Keith was worse. Hunk would be yelling at him to go back to bed. Like the Fat Lady was doing as Lance snuck out. “Who’s there!” She cried out when to her there was nothing. Lance was so tempted to tease her but no, tonight was for discovery!

He made sure to make no noise as he walked through the corridors. He even heard a few teachers speaking. Lance always wanted to know what teachers spoke of when there were no filters from students being in the perimeter. “Your fluffy almost bit my leg off!” Lance heard Haggar snarl. What?

“You’re meant to play music so she can sleep,” Coran said softly. “She is a very good guard,”

“Not when she won’t let me check if the crystal is still there!” Haggar whispered in a harsh tone. “There has to be a better way!” Lance knew she must have been wanting to steal the ‘crystal’. That must be why she was so ticked off. She must have been tasked with checking on it but she was going to steal it but her plans didn’t go right. Lance grit his teeth as he headed forwards. He would get nothing done if he were to stop and fight them. He had some impulse control, more than others.

He was in one of the forbidden corridors he was theorising about. In that corridor consisted of the door that led to Fluffy. He wasn’t going in there, not tonight, he wasn’t prepared. And the three-headed dog was most likely awake and ready to bite his head off. But there must be a few more things in this corridor that might lead to a few clues. He wanted to actively contribute more than what he was doing. He knew his ADHD was getting in the way of his life. He was too focused on Project Fluffy that he could fail his classes at any second. And his mother would be upset because Lance was actually a pretty smart student!

He needed this Project to be done with, but he also loved the thrill of it. This would be one of the things that he would miss when this would all be over.

He entered the classroom by Fluffy’s with a spell and looked around. The room was unusually dark like it was trying to mask something. He strode around the room, trying to find anything useful. He was slightly disappointed and was about to leave the room until he bumped into something. As a result, his cloak fell off of him. He quickly put it back on himself and looked at what had caused it to fall.

It was a mirror.

Now that Lance was looking at it, how could he have missed it? It was right there, smack bang in the middle of the room! And it was twice as tall as Lance and the wood was a bright blue. HOW ON EARTH COULD HE HAVE MISSED THAT! He must be needing glasses at some point. He was totally going blind. Dammit.

He walked around the mirror to see the silver surface. At first, he wasn’t even reflected in it. He scrunched his eyebrows together and the silvery surface rippled. It was as if a pebble had dropped in water. The mirror slowly even out and revealed something that made Lance gasp. His arm reached out behind him, but he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. Why weren’t they there?

In the mirror image, his family was there. His mother looked healthy and young with a smile on her face that spoke of worlds. His brother wasn’t a scowling pale mess from the result of him being sick easily, he was smiling with a tan. Veronica no longer had tired eyes and a stretched smile. But the thing that made him scared was the fact that his father was in that image.

He knew he should be crying with joy, but he was afraid. His family shouldn’t be here, let alone his father. He hated o admit and remember the fact his father was no longer here, but his father was long gone by now. He couldn’t be here behind him.

Lance was even wearing a brooch that showed he was part of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team and everything. His mirror self-looked to the side and gave a welcoming smile as his friends joined him. Lance watched as his counterpart got everything that would ever make him happy. This was too cruel to watch because Lance knew for a fact that this was sick. He could never have his friends back. He couldn’t ever join the Quidditch team without feeling guilty. His family could never look this happy and healthy. And his friends wouldn’t look at him like he hung the moon, let alone PIDGE! She would never do that. Keith was even looking at him with glassy eyes, WHY! Hunk was giving a proud smile, what was there to be proud of about Lance!

Lance quickly made sure his cloak was still on before scrambling to a run. He ran onto his bunk bed. Oh LORD, his insomnia was going to be fed with all of this tonight. HE SO WAS NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO GO BED! LET ALONE NOT CRYING!

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“Lance, you look out of it,” Hunk said, “Well, more than usual,” Hunk corrected himself. Let’s say, he was right. Lance was used to insomnia and he would only ever let himself cry when he was alone. Let’s just say crying all night was not doing wonders to his face. His eyes were swollen and he had to sing corny songs to make sure his eyes weren’t bloodshot anymore. But his bottom lip was swollen from muffling his cried and he hadn’t even bothered to brush his hair. He knew he was just going to mess it up by running his fingers through it. He knew when he woke up that it was going to be a bad day.

“Let’s say I found something creepy,” Lance said after stifling a yawn. He gave a tired smile as Keith joined them at the Hall. “I was up all night thinking about it,”

“And crying?” Hunk pressed on, “Nuh huh, you are going to have to tell us what’s wrong. I will so get Shiro to let you come to the kitchen with me. You can be my test taster or something,” Hunk said, trying to get Lance to look happier, or even look slightly motivated to do anything.

“Lance,” Keith said, “I’m usually the depressing one. Stop stealing my spotlight,”

Lance froze.

“Did you just?” Lance asked.

“I think he did,” Hunk agreed.

“What?” Keith asked nervously. “What did I do wrong?”

“Nothing,” Lance said.

“I’m shook,” Hunk said, “You made a joke! What is this! Are you sick?”

“Not that I know of, am I meant to be sick?” Keith asked cluelessly.

“You are so oblivious,” Hunk shook his head in disbelief. “I feel like you’re going to be a sucker for my cooking,”

“I probably would,” Keith yawned. He leaned his head on Lance’s shoulder and closed his eyes whilst lacing their hands together. “I offered to help Coran with the Forbidden Forest tonight, y’all can come if you want.”

“Uhh…” Hunk said. “Can I just say, no?” He said. “You know that’s where centaurs are, right? Not the nice Greek Percy Jackson one, the freaking kill you type. They know no difference between a student and their arch nemesis,”

“I’m up for it!” Lance said.

“At least Lance is nice enough to say yes,” Keith said with a smile. “Going back to why Lance is tired and looked like he cried himself to sleep,”

“Excuse you,” Lance said, “I didn’t cry myself to sleep. I didn’t sleep. I don’t ever sleep.”

“What?” Keith asked with pure shock.

“The dude has insomnia,” Hunk said with raised eyebrows. “He never usually sleeps. I’d know from all the sleepovers we had over the summer. How could you not know? I swear you slept in the same room, like, a week ago?”

“I was sleeping!” Keith said with an embarrassed blush. “Sorry for assuming that Lance slept too!”

“Don’t worry,” Lance said.

“How am I not meant to when you look like you cried all night and you never ever sleep!” Keith said hysterically.

“Look, I know you have insomnia, too,” Lance said with a smirk.

“Whatever,” Keith muttered. Lance knew Keith dealt with his insomnia in a way that was probably smart in a way. He would work himself to death in the morning so he would be too tired to not sleep. His thoughts would get cloudy and he would be forced not to sleep by how tired he was. But the downside was that on the weekends, he was crap at sleeping. So, Monday was Keith’s crap day. “I still want to know why you cried.”

Lance explained what happened the night before.

“Let me guess,” Hunk said, “You want to go again? Even though it scared the crap out of you? Are you serious?”

“I want to know why the hell it’s there, too,” Lance said. “I think it’s meant to show what makes you happy. Or what would make you throw up? Because I will.”

“I’ll go with you? Now?” Keith asked. “I don’t want to wait until tomorrow,” Keith said. That was what Lance called impatient. “I will go without you if you don’t,” Keith said. Yes, definitely impatient. It was hard not to get influenced by him. “Seriously, I don’t care what either of you think of it, I want to see it,”

Lance didn’t know if Keith was generally curious of if it was because it would show him something that would make him happy. He had a rough childhood and he might want to see something that would cheer him up. Lance couldn’t take it lightly. “I’m coming with you, just don’t think it will show you the future,” He got up and raised an eyebrow at Hunk.

“I’ll come with,” Hunk sighed. He looked like he was about to say no but he brought in the courage. “I can’t be afraid, forever now, can I?” Lance liked that. Hunk was willing to do many things, but not much that would endanger him or get himself in trouble. But, at times, Hunk gets these random bursts of courage. And he was working on it becoming permanent. He respected that.

“No one said you were afraid to being with,” Lance said. “Wasn’t I the one who cried for all last night?”

“True, don’t be a baby like Lance,” Keith smirked.

“I bet he’s going to vomit,” Lance said automatically. “I swear, he will vomit!”

“I love the fact you have so much faith in me,” Keith said sarcastically.

“I love the fact that we’re all trying to be sarcastic to make up for Pidge not being here,” Hunk pointed out. They, to be honest, were. It was a little lonelier. Lance would turn around to make a short joke on Pidge but the girl was never there! She was probably having the life with her family! Whilst they were here, crying and dying. Well, that felt like an everyday thing for Lance, but, whatever.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“Holy crap.”

Lance watched as Keith’s eyes widened. Lance couldn’t see what Keith saw or what Hunk saw. But they were looking at whatever was happening in the mirror with wide eyes. Keith went over to the corner and actually threw up. Lance cringed, he wanted to go up and help him but the smell made him gag and he knew Keith wouldn’t appreciate Lance trying to console him. Keith liked looking strong.

Hunk, on the other hand, was frozen. He had the ghost of a smile on his face until he noticed it wasn’t real. “I see myself winning a cooking competition and being known as the world's youngest chef. I even graduated Hogwarts early? My parents are crying with joy. You lot, even Pidge, is smiling at me.”

“That’s sweet,” Lance said. “I would smile at you anyways. I am now,” He was. “We’re smiling at you because?”

“Because you don’t think I’m cowards,” Hunk said.

“Then you must already be happy,” Lance said, “We never thought that. I don’t know about the other things but we don’t think you’re cowards.”

“I taste vomit,” Keith said as he stood with them. He did smell of their breakfast. Not in the way Lance liked it, though.

“Probably because you just threw up,” Lance said jokingly, “What did you see?” Lance asked. He remembered Keith saying he would answer any question Lance asked if he was comfortable with it. He just had to ask. And Lance did.

“My parents,” Keith said. They were dead. “I don’t know how they looked, so there were just hazy figures next to me. But they felt like they were my mum and dad…”

“It felt so real, right?” Lance whispered. “It would make you happy to have your parents back?” Funny, that was what Lance got too.

Keith looked like there was more he wanted to say but he didn’t. “I think it’s more of a family feel. I would like it just as much if they showed me Shiro and Adam as my parents. Or one of you as my siblings,” He avoided Lance’s eyes. “It showed me you as a great friend of mine. Not as a brother. Don’t be offended, you still felt like family. Just not in a way that’s like that.” Keith struggled for words.

“Nah, man, I get it,” Lance said. He truly did. He wouldn’t pin Keith as his brother, either. Maybe as a friend he was destined to meet. Pidge and Hunk were more like siblings. Matt by extension, too. “You wanna throw up more, or?” He teased.

“He is so going to not let you live this down,” Hunk laughed.

“You looked like you died,” Keith countered.

“Feisty,” Lance said.

“He sure is…”

They all jumped. Of course, they would, there was only three of them in the room. And someone else had spoken! It was natural to jump at that! It was like being jump scared. Though, Keith squeezed the living daylights out of Lance’s arm. He must have been used to being scared by all that trauma in that sick orphanage, he must be used to digging his nails into his palms as he made fists. Lance’s arm was just another sacrifice so Keith wouldn’t have to do that anymore.

They all turned to see Shiro raising his eyebrows at them. “I actually thought it would be Keith in here. I was actually surprised to see Lance in here last night,”

“HOW?” Lance asked.

“I’m the best wizard of the age after Alfor,” Shiro said in a ‘duh’ tone, “I can see through that invisibility cloak of yours.”

“That is so unfair. How am I meant to use it if half the world can see me through it?” Lance asked.

“Only a few people can see through it, kid,” Shiro said. “Wow, I must be old to call you a kid.”

“You’re 21,” Keith said bluntly. “You are old. And ugly. You could die any second now.”

“Sweet,” Shiro grinned.

“Is this what you said about death jokes?” Lance asked Keith.

“Lord, what else did you tell him!” Shiro demanded Keith.

“Uhhh…” Keith looked ready to run for it. And he did. Out of the room.

“Well,” Shiro said, “I would run after him but I’m authorised to tell you that this mirror, the Mirror of Erised, is going to move. To a better location, I don’t get why it was put here in the first place. Students could just use a spell to get in! Well, I wouldn’t waste my time here. Some people waste their life away here. I would, but I have a kid now.”

“And a future fiance,” Lance smirked. Hunk grinned. Shiro’s eyes widened.

“THAT LITTLE PRICK!” Shiro yelled before running off after Keith. Lance and Hunk laughed as they walked out of the room and locked it. It was fun to watch Keith act like a kid. It wasn’t fair that he was cramped up with Project Fluffy. When this was all over, Lance was going to treat everyone with sweets or something.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️


	9. Pidge is Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pure creature found dead, but who was hovering over it?

“LORD! YOU’RE BACK!”

Lance ran up and tackled Pidge into a hug. She was wearing a dark green woolly jumper that said some sort of weird geek joke and was grinning up at him through the hug. Keith awkwardly gave her a hug, Lance watched as Keith struggled as to where to put his hands. How could Keith not get a hug right? Keith was a sucker for hugs, gave them out left and right! And now he was getting shy and couldn’t even function.

Hunk looked like he swallowed Pidge up.

“Hunk!” Pidge wheezed, “I can’t breathe! Seriously, get away from me!” Hunk let her go slowly before giving a toothy grin. “I take it you all are happy with the presents I got you all?” She turned to face Hunk and Lance. “Your taste in Quidditch teams are disgusting,”

“Lan-” Keith started.

“Look who didn’t go home for the holidays,” A voice crooned. James Griffin. Lance knew this boy as the ringleader of bullies. And he was stereotypically Sorted into Slytherin. It would have made a great pun if he ended up in Gryffindor. But the prick ended up right there with Keith. Who was an easy target. And Keith was easily angered and got in trouble so often. “Little Orphan Keith. Is that Muggle Orphanage treating you right?” He smirked.

Lance knew by the look of him that he knew about Keith’s past. “Why?” Lance whispered to Keith.

“Oh?” James asked. “You didn’t tell your friends? He wasn’t the only one to become an Orphan. I was the first to be adopted, and look, Keith’s the oldest there and still hasn’t left the hell hole,” Lance clenched his fists.

“You bloo-” Keith lifted his fist and it connected with James’ jawline. Lance took the chance to swipe his leg around the prick’s ankle and Lance watched as the boy’s knees buckled and he fell. Hunk went around the back of him with a grimace, he was trying to stand up for Keith. Lance appreciated it. Pidge came up as Hunk held Griffon by his hair and swung a fist at his nose.

“You lot!” A voice boomed. “Detention!”

Lance turned around to see Haggar pointing a shaking finger at them. Lance was seething. They were helping a victim! Well, it might not have been the best course of action. But Keith had already started it, so they could end it. Even if Hunk was still gripping the dude’s hair. It looked like it hurt. “That’s my first detention,” Hunk said as he pushed James away before wiping his hands on his jeans. “No regrets, though. Shay won’t mind. She might mind the way we handled it, but it seemed good at that moment,”

“Freaks,” James spat before heading away.

“He could use some better insults,” Pidge noted, “Even Lance had better,”   


Ye-wait, hey!” Lance yelled defensively.

“Buddy,” Hunk said, “Calm it down. Pidge only came back, like, 5 minutes ago, we got into a fight, got a detention, and we still have to catch up. You sure you wanna start  _ another  _ fight?”

“Lance has the kind of aura that just wants you to punch him in the face,” Keith said. He seemed fine enough now. He was no longer gritting his teeth. Lance was going to have to help him not do that anymore. He was going to have crap teeth when he grew older if this kept up.

“YOU FEEL THAT TOO!” Pidge said in a gasp.

“You two are the worst,” Lance muttered, “Hunk, you’re my favourite, now.”

“Wasn’t I always?” Hunk demanded.

“You all are giving me a headache. This was meant to be a joke! If I can’t say hi to my friend normally, see ya!” Lance said. He was about to head out when he heard the others laugh before catching up to him. He rolled his eyes. He knew they were suckers for him. “First thing first, you missed something very important,”

“Lance proposed to Keith,” Hunk said.

“Lance cried,” Keith said.

“Keith made a joke and threw up,” Lance said.

They all looked at each other before yelling over each other. Pidge just looked between them with beaming eyes. Yeah, technically that all happened and not in that order and seemed weird with no context. They all burst out laughing. “Okay, on at a time. But, can I just say? WOAH? SINCE WHEN? TELL ME EVERYTHING!” Pidge said excitedly.

“Well, Keith making a joke happened first.” Hunk said after breathing out deeply. “He insulted Lance and everything, that was a good time. You missed out child grow up out of the dirt,”

“I am the dirt,” Keith glared at Hunk.

“Then, at Christmas, the whole proposal thing happened, show them your rings,” Hunk said. Lance looked at Keith. His cheekbones were dusted with red but he smirked along with Lance. They both showed their right hands to show the matching rings on their ring fingers.

“Okay, I thought it was a joke,” Pidge said. “When’s the wedding?”

“It was a joke,” Lance laughed. “I just bought Keith some friendship weird promise ring. Adam cried. Shiro and Adam kissed.” Pidge made a face at that. “Then my family gave this ring my great-grandfather made. It’s tradition to give it to the oldest son so they could propose with this ring and give it to their partner as a wedding ring,”

“Okay,” Pidge breathed out. “I actually thought Keith was about to go down the aisle. Whew. Now tell me the rest.”

“At Christmas, Keith and Lance both got these weird presents by some strangers. I say they were given by the same person. Well, Keith got some weird and cool knife that looks like a dagger. Lance got an invisibility cloak. He then snuck out and found a mirror, the Mirror of Erised. Shows you what makes you happy. Lance cried from shock and disgust. He showed Keith and me the next day. I liked what I saw. Keith threw up.”

“Damn, you lot got a bunch down,” Pidge said with raised eyebrows. “I just tried reading up on Flamel and found nothing. And here you lot are, finding all the good stuff. I knew I should have stayed,” She muttered.

“But, here’s the thing. We need you to come up with a plan so Keith and I can get into the restricted section using the cloak. Hunk offered to be used as a distraction. I’m guessing we’ll need Matt? Oh, yeah, Matt wanted to know if he could find out what we were doing.” Lance said.

“Lance and I had a bonding moment that night,” Keith glared at Lance who just smirked.

“Still don’t remember, meaning it does not exist,” Lance signed out. Keith just took a deep breath in from the pent-up anger.

“Do you two need a moment or?” Pidge teased. “I’ll make a plan. It’s an easy plan. You lot could have done it. Just cause a distraction.” It could have been that easy, but it wasn’t. Teachers were constantly on guard and they didn’t know when to act out their plan. And their distractions would have been too obvious. THEY WERE THEM! Teachers would instantly know something was up. Now, they need to figure out a time where they can do it since school was starting back up in two days.

“On a Tuesday in our spare time. You know, that one period where we’re meant to have Astronomy but Matt begged for a Tuesday off? That time. We can then get Matt to set up a prank near there. I know he’ll do it happily. I’ll explain what’s happening to him later.” Pidge said quickly. “I bet it’s going to be something about fireworks. He always had a thing about them. Or a Muggle meme. He was always fascinated by Muggles. He would totally do something along those lines.”

“I’d like Hunk to send me a video about that,” Lance announced.

“Pidge, what’s in your pocket?” Keith asked with raised eyebrows. Lance looked down and noticed there was something in her pocket. Pidge looked ready to lunge at somebody.

“Funny thing…” Pidge mumbled. “They got me a phone for my birthday and I’m an addict now…”

“I KNEW IT!” Lance screeched. He winked at anyone who turned to face them. “I knew you’d be one of those tech nerds!”

“TECH GEEKS!” Pidge corrected. “My dad even got me a laptop. Now explain how you two charge your phones,”

“Wand,” Lance winked.

“The wand has a reaction with the phone that forces it to channel the Quintessence from the air and into the phone. Think of it as a USB. You put the Quintessence into the wand and the wand puts it into the phone to charge it. This way, the phone even lasts longer!” Hunk explained.

“That genius!” Pidge breathed out. “Do you think it will work with the laptop?”

“You might want to try it out tonight, or I’ll help you figure it out,” Hunk offered.

“Nerds,” Lance teased. They didn’t seem to hear him as they were absorbed into their own nerdy world. Yeah, Lance was smart but not the type like that. He was street smart and excelled at stuff  _ he  _ needed to know. He just needed to know that Wand + Phone = Charged. He didn’t need the science behind it. 

“I don’t understand a thing they’re saying,” Keith said. “I feel like we’ve just entered a whole new world,”

“I don’t know if that’s a reference, but okay,” Lance smiled. “See, Pidge isn’t that different.”

“Yeah, I feel kind of silly for freaking out,” Keith mumbled as he played with the ring on his finger with a slight smile on his lips. “Thanks for standing up for me. Even though I totally would have won. But, I feel kind of guilty at the fact you all have a detention.”

“Nah, we all knew it was going to happen,” Lance said, “And as Hunk said, no regrets!” Lance grinned. “And you totally needed us, Keith. You looked like you were about to be blinded with your tears. I never know if you’re angry sad or just sad sad.”

“Angry sad, obviously,” Keith said. “I think it’s called smad?”

“You are such a dork!” Lance laughed. This was what Lance was hoping for. Nothing to do with school or anything else. Well, school was part of that ‘normal’ life, too. But, Keith looked so at home right now. He was trying to listen to their nerdy friends fangirl, and he was cracking weird jokes with Lance. Lance was definitely going to treat them all with something! “I feel like Luis is totally going to love you. You would be such a dork and he’d laugh and tease you.”

“So, it just you but shorter?” Keith asked. “Dammit, I just admitted you’re taller than me.”   
  
“And I will still grow taller,” Lance grinned. “I would try and make this a fair fight, but, yeah, I like this height I got on you,”

“I will hit you,” Keith glared at him.

“What? Headbutt my knees?” Lance teased.

“Say goodbye to your knees!”  
  
“OOF!” Lance groaned. “I was kidding, for the love of GOD! Keith! I find of pity James now, what the hell!”

“Pidge would have done the same,” Keith shot back.

“I would have done what?” Pidge asked, reentering the conversation with Hunk.

“He murdered my knee!” Lance said, pointing at Keith.

“He insulted my height,” Keith said. “Well, he teased me, not insulted me.”

“I would have done the same,” Pidge agreed.

“I could just eat you all,” Hunk said. “Look at me, I seriously cannot do anything else,”

“Come on, big guy, say what you got for Christmas, I know you want to shriek it out,” Lance said, patting Hunk on the back.

“I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT IN THE KITCHEN! KEITH GAVE ME A PASS FROM SHIRO!” Hunk grinned.

“Does that mean I get to taste that legendary cooking of yours Lance is always bragging about for you?” Pidge asked. “Because I want in.”

“You will totally swoon for his cooking,” Lance said. “Luis totally does,”

“I feel like Keith would throw up,” Hunk said. “Kidding, I feel like he can’t take spice, though,”

“Uhh…” Keith murmured. “You’re right?”

“Damn, then half the things I can make are thrown out the window,” Hunk said.

“I’m lactose intolerant,” Keith added.

“But I’ve seen you drinking milk,” Lance said.

“Why do you think I end up in the nurse’s office so much?” Keith asked.

“I’m also lactose intolerant,” Pidge said. “Who do you think gave Keith the idea of doing that?” She said with a smug face.

“Hunk, remember to steal the milk from their House tables,” Lance said. “And no wonder you two are so short,”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Keith said.

“Says the shorty,” Lance teased.

“SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR OTHER KNEE!” Pidge said before swinging her foot at his knee. Lance grabbed onto Hunk for support.

“I feel so attacked right now,” Lance said,

“Probably because you were,” Hunk suggested. “I am so glad to have you back, Pidge.”   


“I am sure you lot are,” Pidge smiled.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

It’s time for the detention.

The group walked along the path to where Coran was standing. He had a small dog at his feet that was barking up at him. At his side was James Griffin. Lance knew this dude was skilled at his broom but why did he have to be such a prick? He was even shook when Keith was able to do everything better than the rest of the year. James was looking off at the distance with a scowl on his face. Lance went to look at Keith who was gritting his teeth. “Dude, stop, relax your body. Do you want another detention? School hasn’t even started and we’re heading into the forest of doom.” Lance teased. Keith glared at him before taking a deep breath and relaxing.

“Hello,” Coran said as he twirled his moustache. “We’re going into the Forbidden Forest to investigate. I was told there was an injured Unicorn out there and I want to find it and figure out who had hurt it.” Lance raised an eyebrow. Why would anyone want to hurt a Unicorn? “Their blood can be used for terrible deeds, depends on what you want. The worst that can happen if the person consumes the blood,” Lance didn’t ask why. “We’re splitting up. Keith, James, and Hunk, you go with Fang. Lance, Pidge, and I will go as the other team.” Keith glared at James.

Lance gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before standing with his group. “If you’re in danger, send off a flare using your wand,” Coran said before entering the forest. Pidge and Lance exchanged looks before scrambling after him.

“Why would anyone want to stay in a forest?” Pidge muttered. “Look, there can be mosquitos and crap here. Maybe even literal crap, Lance we could be standing on actual crap.”

“Pidge,” Lance said. “Be one with nature or nature will go freaky on you and kill you.”

“See? It’s why I hate nature,” Pidge grumbled/

“Nonsense,” Coran said. “Many forests controlled by magical beings are also magical. There are centaurs in here and everything. The trees have a mind of their own and can defend themselves and the beings within the forest. Many great wizards can sense the Quintessence within nature. Try,” Coran said as he put his finger delicately on a nearby tree. “If you don’t feel it, don’t feel discouraged. Nature calls to certain people. It’s not because they’re good wizards.” Lance followed Pidge to a tree and placed his long fingers on the bark.

“Woah…” Pidge said as swirls of green surrounded her. The faded into the dark and reappeared near her. She grinned at Lance who was smiling proudly at her. It was like watching many fireflies wandering around the kid. Her glasses lit up with a green light as the swirls faded permanently into the dark. “What does it mean?”

“All wizards and witches have a container within them. It always just refills itself, never a recharge time. But the Quintessence filling that container is always rushed and never pure. Wizards who can use nature can channel in natural Quintessence and perform...better? Like, casting a normal Lumos would be quite dim compared to what you can do if you can harness this.” Coran rambled on.

“Pidge,” Lance said in awe. “You are seriously a prodigy. Lord, you’re so awesome! Imagine that! Just casting a normal Lumos could be lighting the whole solar system up!” He could imagine it. Pidge standing heroically and casting the spell in utter darkness. Her wand could count as another star by how bright the light given off would be.

“That is so cool!” Pidge grinned. “So would that mean I’m a tech addict along as a botanist?”

“Is this why you excel at Herbology?” Lance asked. “That is so cheating!”

“Yeah, but you’re so good at everything, too!” Pidge said. “Like flying on a broom, an-”

A flare went off in the east.

Lance didn’t hesitate before running in the direction of the red flare. He jumped over a few bushes and ducked under a couple of branches until he saw the other team. Hunk was holding Keith back by his elbows and James was groaning in the dirt, leaves crunching every time he made a movement.

Coran and Pidge caught up and sighed. “Okay, Lance, you’re switching places with James.” Pidge looked so betrayed but also ready to fight. The girl had a lot of energy. Lance’s eyes sparkled as he headed towards his other friends.

“You lot ready for finding a pink fluffy Unicorn?” Lance asked. Hunk let go of Keith carefully before they both nodded. “LET’S GO!” Lance laughed as they headed in a random direction. “Keith, buddy, you look like you need to get something off your chest. Say it, already.” Lance sighed after a few moments of joking around with Hunk.

“Well,” Keith said, “Hunk might have told me something…”

“Dude, don’t bring me into this,” Hunk said, “I tried to get him to join and he still hasn’t!”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Keith demanded hotly. “That you were asked to join the team?”

Oh.

It wasn’t that Lance forgot, he was just kind of distracted lately so he had his mind on other things. But that didn’t mean the guilt wasn’t eating at him from within. “Because it isn’t fair. They can’t just ask me to join the team because I looked good. You could have done it and joined. JAMES COULD HAVE JOINED! And it still wouldn’t be fair to all those people who want to join,” Lance said. Keith took it all in before sighing.

“Look, I get it,” Keith said. “But, this is what you wanted, right? Join the team and make your family proud. Of course, there are going to be a few people who are going to be a little mad. They aren’t going to hand it over you forever. And this guilt won’t eat you up forever. Not joining and waiting for last year would be a big mistake. It’s like saying no to free ice cream.”

“Ice cream people can’t get yet until next year,” Lance countered back.

“And they still would get the chance to get the ice cream,” Keith said, “Just a little later. Just because you were asked something early doesn’t change anything. Pidge came here early, she must have felt guilty but look at her now, she’s living the life.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Lance said though it only eased the guilt up a bit.

“Lance,” Hunk said, “No one minds. Seriously, rumours are already out and they want you to go in. They’re waiting for you. You shouldn’t care what people think of this offer, what do you think about it? Would you be happy about joining the team?”

“I would,” Lance said quickly, “Would you join your teams next year?”

“Of course,” Keith grinned, “They might not like me but I’m the best they got.”   


“I was hoping to be more of a mechanic when I grow up,” Hunk said, “But the brooms are great. You know that rushing feeling you get when you’re scared but it just feels addicting when you fly?”

“I LOVE IT!” Lance laughed. “I would give up my right arm to buy myself a broom,”

“Shiro almost did that,” Keith laughed, “Well, he does have that one arm that’s fake, but, it wasn’t for a broom. Let’s just say using Wingardium Leviosa at a great height is a crap thing to do,”

“I really want to hear the story behind this,” Hunk said.

“When Shiro was going here,” Keith laughed, “He would get lost at every turn. The way he met Adam was back when he was in their third year. Adam was in Ravenclaw and Shiro in Gryffindor. One of the stairs literally moved and Shiro fell. Adam then used the spell to levitate him but he panicked and Shiro fell. On top of Adam. It was funny, apparently,”

“Are you serious?” Lance asked, “He’s as much of a dork as you are!”

“I learned from the best, I guess?” Keith shrugged.

They all tensed as the bushes overhead moves. They all looked at each other before slowly moving forward. Lance could see that Hunk was visibly shivering but was careful enough not to give off their position. Lance slowly lifted his head to look over the bush and his eyes widened. He heard Hunk gasp and Keith tense beside him.

On the ground lay a body, not a humanoid body, but the body of a Unicorn. It was just that it wasn’t injured, it was dead. The dark wouldn’t let Lance see the colour of the blood and Lance was sure he didn’t want to. He grabbed Keith and Hunk’s hands and they all looked at each other. This was way more than an 11-year-old was meant to see. Well, Hunk was turning 12 in a while, but that was beside the point.

But it wasn’t only the fact that the Unicorn lay motionless in the dead leaves, the fact that a hooded figure was towering above it. The shadows mingled with the figure, their height not palpable anymore. But something about the figure itself sent a shiver down Lance’s spine. It was a toned down version of when he was shot by Lord Zarkon when he was young. After his father’s death, Zarkon turned to Lance and tried to kill him but ended himself instead. Looking at this figure sent that chill down his spine and tears of pain down his cheeks. He looked at Keith who was trying not to make a sound from his crying, too. Hunk was just plain afraid.

Keith or Lance must have made a sound as the figure whipped their head in their direction before scuttering off. They all rose to their feet and headed towards the Unicorn. Death lingered in the area and Lance realised some of the blood was taken from the poor creature. That creep must have taken some blood for their own uses. It sent another shiver down Lance’s spine. He looked at Hunk who sent up a flare to signify they had found something.

Moments later, the other team arrived. It looked like Pidge was relieved to get away from James but she froze when she saw the scene. “Dear, oh, dear,” Coran muttered sullenly, “I am so sorry you had to see this. Fang will take you back to the school. I will get this sorted out,”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“Hi, I’m Lance,” He introduced, “I was recommended to join the team a few months back, I’d like to take the offer up?” Lance asked hopefully. He was finally going to listen to his friends. After months of pestering, he had the final push last night with the Unicorn. Life was too short to dwell in regrets, he could live with himself if he joined the team. No one will mind when he wins the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor.

“You’re the beater Allura was telling us about?”

Lance turned his head to see Veronica. See, not only is she the mature one in their family, even the nice one, she was also good at Quidditch. She was also casted as a Beater. “You?” She repeated. “Are you sure? It’s dangerous,”

“I said that to you and you glared at me,” Lance pointed out. He remembered that day very well. It involved a lot of chickens. Yeah, it was a  _ good  _ day. “And, yes. I got this signature from Professor Quinn to prove it,” He had gotten it this morning when he said he wanted to join and Allura had quickly scribbled down her signature with a grin. “She wants us to win this year, congrats on all those wins,” Granted, they only played once and that was a win. Hufflepuff was winning so far.

“I’ll get you hooked up with a broom,” Veronica said, “You better be as good as Allura bragged about. I seriously don’t want you falling off your broom halfway through the games,”

“Like you don’t,” Lance said, “Yeah, you’re not slick. I heard that you fell that one game last year.” Veronica flushed before glaring at him. She was evidently trying to keep him from finding out. “Look, I can always just join next year? But, Professor Quinn did say I was your best bet. I can use any broom and make it look like the Nimbus 2000,” He actually could. Keith had always grinned proudly when they tied in races. They were both holding back but they were way too fast for their own good.

“Okay, just stop getting detentions. Yeah, you’re not slick either,” Veronica teased him, “How on earth did you get a detention yesterday? School doesn’t even start until tomorrow,”

“When’s the next game?” Lance asked, changing the subject.

“There are two games back-to-back in the next week. First one will be Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw. Then Gryffindor vs Slytherin.” Veronica explained. “So you’re going to have to train very hard for the next few days. We have the same spare times, so meet me on the field at those times to train.”

“Sounds like a plan,”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“OH!” Pidge cried out in Matt’s office. Lance and everyone else craned their neck to see what was going on. They were reading still on Project Fluffy before they can execute their plan tomorrow. “I found something on Unicorn blood!” Lance and Keith flinched, Hunk looked like he was about to puke. Pidge looked a little green but pushed on. “One of the main uses for the blood is to consume it as Coran said. But the actual result of it is the chance to live a little longer. Like if you’re on the brink of death, it can heal you for a little while. But, you’re cursed,”

“Huh?” Hunk said. “Like equivalent exchange?”

“In a way,” Pidge said, “You killed something so pure for selfish reasons, you were bound to be cursed. It just doesn’t explain what the curse is about. Like, is it different to anyone? Is it personal? Is it a death or immortality curse?”

“Yeah,” Lance stretched the word out, “No.” He said quickly. “How do people get Unicorn hair without hurting the creature?”

“Duh,” Keith said, “Like sheep.”

“Totally,” Hunk said, “That totally explains everything,”

“Hunk has sass,” Pidge smiled.

“And you have the emotional range of a teaspoon,” Lance said to Pidge.

“There you go with that infuriating aura of yours,” Pidge said. “Did you get on the team?”

“Yeah,” Lance said. “First game is next week. And also the second somewhere in that week, too.” He looked at Keith. “Just because you’re on Slytherin doesn’t mean I’ll soften up,” Then to Pidge, “Or for Ravenclaw.”

“We will still own that cup,” Keith said.

“May I remind you that Hufflepuff is winning?” Hunk noted.

“May I remind you that you’re the only team that played twice?” Pidge pointed out.

“You lot are seriously way too loud,” Matt said, entering the office. “I got this cane from Shiro’s office. Honestly, it just looks like a stick. During the break, all of you go to the library. Table closest to the Restricted Section. It would be too suspicious if I give you a pass to get in. I’ll use this still or cane, whatever, to do my amazing distraction and you all sneak in. Pidge said you lot have a thing for sneaking in with?”

“Yeah,” Lance said. “Let’s just say Christmas was a good time,”

“Yeah,” Matt grinned, “Like when you proposed to Keith,”

“PIDGE!” Lance yelled. “DID YOU EVEN EXPLAIN THE WHOLE THING TO HIM?”

“She did,” Matt grinned, “I just like making all of you squirm. It’s hilarious,” He said before entering his bedroom.

“He is such a geek,” Pidge said.

“Hypocrite,” Keith said.

“Lance, you’re rubbing off on him!” Hunk said. He went over to Keith and hugged the raven-haired boy until it looked like Keith was too far gone. “Tell me, please tell me he hasn’t infected you too far.”

“He has,” Keith said. Lance was fuming. “He was trying to get me to make puns. It was that bad,” Keith faked a sniffle.

“YOU LOT ARE SO ANNOYING!” Lance sighed.

“And Keith is rubbing off on him,” Pidge signed. “I don’t know which one I’m more afraid of. Keith with bad puns and Lance’s dumb sense of humour, or Lance with Keith’s hot-headedness and need to get himself killed.”

“Excuse you,” Lance said, “I already had that need to get myself killed long ago,” He huffed.

“You lot are literally too much,” Hunk laughed as he gently separated himself from Keith. “I should make a book from all the stupid comments you make.”

“Lance would take up, like, three books,” Keith laughed.

“KEITH WOULD TAKE UP 5!” Lance shot at him. Keith rolled his eyes and sat back down next to Lance. “I am so ready for this year to be over. I can’t believe I was so happy to join a school before all of this.”

“Same,” Pidge said. “I think I should have just joined with the others my age,”

“Then who would make fun of your height?” Lance laughed.

“I will destroy you,” Pidge glared at him. It would have looked threatening if she wasn’t wearing glasses that were too big for her face and the fact that she was surrounded in blankets and books. But Lance’s knees throbbed from yesterday, he should learn his lesson from teasing Keith and Pidge about their height. But, it was fun?

It was fun.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️


	10. Final Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find something very strange after Matt's fabled distraction and Lance does something he regrets.

They were waiting for Matt.

They were doing just as the teacher had told them. It was Tuesday and they were in the library, the table closest to the restricted section. They were just waiting for his fabled entrance to get them inside. Lance was most excited. Usually, Matt was the announcer during Quidditch matches and Lance had never got to listen to him, but this could be just as good. There weren’t many people in the area and those people couldn’t even see Lance and his friends.

Why?

Because they were sitting in a circle on the table, back-to-back, with the invisibility cloak covering them. They huddled their knees to their chests and tried to wait patiently for Matt. Students were milling about, studying hard for an upcoming test. Lance could be doing that. But nope. He was waiting patiently for Matt Holt.

Well, tried.

“Your brother is so late,” Keith muttered quietly. He was next to Lance, making weird shapes with his hands. His small fingers stumbling over each other. He was impatient and forever will be. Lance knew Keith wanted to just knock everyone out and barge into there. The only thing holding him back was the thought of going back to that awful Orphanage. It wasn’t worth it. And Lance agreed.

“My brother is the only one of us that does not have shame,” Pidge whispered back. It was true. Hunk would be stumbling over his feet trying to distract the teachers. Pidge would fail at keeping their attention. Keith would probably kill everyone in a close radius. And Lance would blind everyone near him. There was no chance they would be a good distraction. Matt was a good bet, they couldn’t fire him since he was the best in the region. Without Matt’s antics, he would actually be the role model teacher.

“Your brother is here,” Hunk said and Lance sighed. They all shifted slightly to get a better view of what Matt was going to do before the runoff and break into the section.

Matt was wearing a robe. No, not the usual elegant black robe that he wore. This was a rag. It was torn in areas and his hair was a mess like he was in a wild fight. He didn’t even have his glasses on as well. And he had the stick. Or the staff. Or the cane. Whatever it was, it was in his hand. He looked like a warlord coming back from battle. He even had some face paint to make it look like he had soot on his face. He looked confident, like he was walking into a battle, or maybe making an amazing exit out of a battle. He looked a little like one of those Muggle characters in those war movies Lance watched all the time.

Lance was impressed but where was the punch line?

Matt took a deep breath when everyone in the library turned to look at him. He grinned in their general direction before yelling, “I GOT THE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME ON MY SIDE!” He did some sort of weird pose with his stick and fireworks went off with a heavy fog in the air. Lance could hear firecrackers somewhere and even a loudspeaker blaring out his voice on repeat. The fog was not even a grey colour. It was the colours of the damn rainbow! There were even heavy holograms of Unicorns in the air and holograms of Quidditch Players zooming about.

The whole scene was chaotic. It was blinding Lance and the fog must have had some weird chemicals put into it because it was making him dizzy. Not in the way that he would pass out, but in the way he felt when he was giddy. Some sort of weird laughing gas? He could hear students screeching and laughing, pointing in awe at the holograms. Lance could vaguely make out the librarian panicking and Allura arriving at the scene.

Matt looked like he wasn’t having any regrets.

Lance exchanged a grin with his friends before the tumbled off the table, careful not to take the cloak off, and rushing to the restricted section. Pidge muttered “Alohomora,” Before they all rushed in, closed the door, and took off the cloak. They all got to work and went to flick through books. Lance made sure to pick up books that made sense to him. He had to quickly close a book that screeched. He was lucky that Matt was making enough noise to cover this up.

“How did you get off of Quidditch practice?” Keith asked.

“Said I would need to revise for an exam,” Lance said. “I was going to before I remembered this. It doesn’t matter, I shook the captain and the team by how great I was.”

“BUT WHAT THE HELL DID MATT DO!” Keith grinned at Pidge. Lance could still see the scene in that back of his mind. It was like one of those weird dreams he would have every once in a while. He was sure he was going to love Quidditch matches from now on. Matt was going to be a blast. Well, he technically was a blast. He was blasting whatever that fog was out there and that repeating sentence on that speaker out there.

He could hear the echoes from here.

“Shhh.” Pidge hissed. “I didn’t expect him to go that big,” Her face was pale in the dark. Paler than usual. She was as shook as Lance was. Lance had thought Matt would come in with a stupid banner, or set off a fire. But whatever was going on outside, that man deserves a crown! It was seriously like one of those surreal dreams Lance had from time to time. He so wanted to join in on Matt’s pranks next time. It would beat studying for their exams in a few months.

“Go big or go home,” Hunk laughed, “OH! I found something!”

“Show!” Pidge said as they all leaned in to see what Hunk had found. The book was something out of a museum. The cover was coated in a thick layer of dust and it was made of thick leather. The pages were stiff, almost as if it would break, and were coloured a pale brown, almost as if tea had coated it one. The book had no title and looked as old as time itself. Why was this even here?

Lance quickly spotted Flamel’s name and skimmed a read of the page. He raised his eyebrow and wracked his brain to see if he could identify any of what he was reading. There was no ding to signify he did. This book was gibberish before his eyes! He couldn’t take it. What was a-

“What the hell is the Crystal of Balmera?” Lance questioned. He sure as hell had never heard of that before in his life. When his father was alive, his father would tell him everything about his work. Everything. This was never in there. His mother also worked at the Ministry and she never told him any of this crap! Lance didn’t know if he was betrayed or confused.

“If you keep reading you’ll find out,” Pidge hissed. Lance rolled his eyes before trying to find out where he was. He widened his eyes. Bring people back from the dead? Make gold? Lance wasn’t one to do any of those things, but if someone was desperate, they would that Crystal. Lance hissed as he felt a small jolt of pain in his lower back, what was that?

“What the-” Keith muttered, “You can make anything out of it! Lance, guys, who do we know has this level of expertise in Potions?” Lance was relieved. That Unicorn Incident, that figure in the robes, Lance really thought that was Haggar. At least Keith was going the same lane as him. Maybe Haggar was trying to get the Crystal to raise Zarkon back from the dead. Lance remembered his mother saying that she never really thought the evil man was dead, just resting and keeping low. Lance and she hoped that wasn’t the case.

“You guys were thinking what I was thinking?” Hunk asked. “Whew, I thought I was just being weird!”

“Haggar,” Pidge said, “Wow, that seems a little too easy to be true.” She looked sceptical. Of course, it did seem a little easy. But, it just added up so well! Haggar was the one with the robes, was asking about getting into the protection spells, and everything else! No one else could possibly be the one! Even if all the teachers had their own kind of freak going on.

“But it’s a start and we should go before they find us here,”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

“Lance, do you feel it?” Keith whispered to him. They all had successfully exited the library, saw Matt being reprimanded by Allura, and they were rushing down the hall. They were on their way to Shiro’s office to tell him what they had found out. “The...hurting?”

“You feel it too?” Lance whispered to him. For a while now, Lance had been in a constant state of pain. Not in the position where he would scream or tell anyone, but it was there. Like a cloud demanding to be noticed and not wanting to be forgotten. But, as time went on, the pain was shooting up him like fireworks. His whole body felt like it was being slowly electrocuted, someone slowly bringing the voltage up. He wanted it to stop but he didn’t want to sound too whiny.

“For a while,” Keith mumbled. “Do you think it’s-”

“I do,” Lance said. “I wish I could be wrong, but I think I’m right,” He didn’t stop walking but turned to look at Keith. “When the pain gets too far, we know we’re too late. So let’s better make it in time.”

“Allura!” Pidge shouted as she met Allura halfway in the corridor. Allura must have been done with yelling with Matt. “Can we meet with Shiro?”

“What is it for?” Allura asked. “Or is it something you can tell me?”

“I want to tell my dad something important,” Keith said. Lance knew Keith was trying, he even mentioned Shiro was his dad. He never did that. He always called Shiro more of his brother-dad thing. Lance could feel Keith cringe in his mind. “It’s about a recurring incident that has been happening for a while. I feel more comfortable telling him,” He shuffled his feet. Lance knew Keith wanted to tell Shiro something. Keith never usually lied like this so he would just say white lies.

“I’m sorry,” Allura said softly, “Shiro has been sent away on business, I’m sure it can wait, but, you can always tell me,”

“Is it okay if I speak to you about it tomorrow? Have you seen Haggar around?” Keith asked.

“I haven’t seen her for a while, no, but you can always come to me,” Allura said before walking away. They all waited until she was out of earshot before heaving out a breath they hadn’t even realised they were holding.

“What are we going to do?” Hunk cried out. “We can’t let Haggar take the Crystal!”

“We go,” Keith said, “We go and save the damn stone ourselves,”

“I’m with Keith, but we’re going to have to get a few things,” Lance said. “We’re going to have to be ready, we’ll do this after dinner. As much as I’d love to kick some butt now, we can’t miss school. We could be saving the whole universe and they wouldn’t care if we miss a class,”

“Let’s go,” Pidge grinned.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

They all met up after dinner. Everyone else was going to go to their beds to have an evening to themselves, and they were about to go meet Fluffy once more. They split up to their commons room. Lance headed into his room and made sure to take off his robes. He didn’t need to be tangled up in his robes when he’s down there. He made sure to stuff his cloak into his pocket, letting some of it hang out so he could easily grab at it. He placed his wand in his back pocket, the one on his right to make sure it was easily accessible.

He walked down the steps and headed out of the painting.

“LANCE, DON’T YOU DARE!”

Lance whirled around to see his sister standing on the steps behind him. Lance looked behind him and saw his friends waiting for him. He flicked his eyes toward his sister again. He couldn’t do this. He seriously couldn’t. “I am tired of this!” Veronica said. “You’re going to fail school at this rate! You go missing all the time, getting in trouble at every corner, and you come back like nothing ever happens! What do you think you’re doing to mum! You better come back up here before I strangle you!”

“Sis, please,” Lance sighed. “I need to go now, you’re going to regret this.”

“When did you get so cocky that you can think that you can speak to me like that!” Veronica demanded. She was being the great big sister she always was. She was so wrapped up on what everyone else felt, she couldn't see the bigger picture or that she was breaking herself in the process. Lance couldn’t hurt her, he was just like that. “Lancelot, come up here,” That hurt. She was calling him a hero but if he went, he’d be a coward.

He formulated a plan in his head. He hated the plan. He loved his sister beyond what words could say. His familial bond to her transcended what even he thought. He knew she was doing good. If this was another situation, another life, he would follow her up those stairs and hug her. His friends would understand. But, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he walked up those stairs. He was tired of being conflicted and putting off the solution.

Lance went up the steps before pointing his wand at her throat. Her eyes widened as she realised what was happening. Lance’s eyes spoke of forgiveness and guilt but his voice was clear and held no chance of rebuttal.  _ “ _ _ Petrificus Totalus!”  _ He cried out. A bolt of blue shot out of his wand and connected with his sister’s figure. Her body tensed all at one and she fell onto the floor. Lance caught her head to make sure she wouldn’t injure her mind. “Take care of her,” Lance told the Fat Lady in a mumble before heading towards his friends.

He knew he must have looked overdramatic. There could have been an easy way out. But with McClains, there was no easy way out. Divas were divas! There was no changing that. If he managed to survive tonight, how would he ever look her in the eyes again? Nothing would be the same. She wouldn’t care if Lance saved the world. Veronica could still hear them through the curse. She could still feel. And she would feel betrayed. Her own little brother had done this to her.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Pidge said. Of course, she would be the one to comfort him. She was the only one out of Lance’s inner ring of friends that had a family. She might teased and make fun of Matt, groan at the thought of her dad, and cringe at the sound of her mother’s name, she would most certainly kill herself to make sure they would live. She was a small body filled with love for the world, Lance could respect that. “We could have just waited and snuck you out,”

“She will forgive me,” Lance said shakily. _ I hope _ , he thought. “She was just worried, the spell won’t hurt her,”  _ It hurt me _ , “We should go, we need to hurry, we might be too late. I suppose Keith filled you in on our pain?” He was totally changing the subject. He was struggling to not turn around and look at his sister. He could imagine her face. It was stuck in a state of shock and betrayal. Lance knew forgiveness was never going to come his way any time soon. Even if he saved the world today, his sister would never forget this betrayal. And Lance wouldn’t, either.

“He did,” Hunk said, “I’m kind of offended that you didn’t tell us. Really, we could have got you help at the infirmary,” He said softly, “But I suppose you are right, we better go.”

“It was an honour being friends with you,” Keith said with pride. “Not that I think we’re going to die. We’re better than that. But, please, remember, even if we just met each other last year, I’m your friend. I will honour you all until death,”  
  
“That is so sappy,” Pidge grinned with a sad look in her eyes, “But, same. You guys, I wouldn’t trade you in for food.”

“That is so sweet,” Hunk said. “I would sacrifice my memories for you lot,”

“I’d give myself up for you all,” Lance smiled tightly. He was tired beyond compare. But the only thing keeping him going was the ever-flowing pain and the fact he was doing something that could potentially kill him. But, he wasn’t lying. He would break himself to let them be happy.

Everyone one them gave each other a smile. They were 11, well, most of them were. It was just Keith and Lance left to turn 12. But, they were young. Lance couldn’t believe they were actually going to do this. But, he was going to do what was right. He would choose this choice over and over again without any regrets. Even if he knew that he had the potential of dying. Even if he hadn’t perfected all those spells he was taught this year. This was going to be a big night.

This was definitely a night to remember.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️


	11. Trial By Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make their way through the trials.

They arrived at the forbidden corridor.

Lance had quickly checked if the Mirror of Erised was still in its classroom, and as Shiro had promised, it was gone. Lance thought nothing of it as he and his friends neared Fluffy’s room. “Alohomora,” Hunk whispered with his wand in hands as he opened the door. They quickly all gathered in and shut the door with a spell that Pidge had muttered under her breath.

Lance took in the scene around him.

The room was dark as the void and Fluffy’s figure was barely visible through the dark haze. It was like the room was being lit up with darkness. Lance found another figure. He reached out to touch it and realised it was a harp. Lance remembered how they were meant to play music to Fluffy when she was asleep. He quickly noticed the snores that littered the air around them. Well, that was their first part of the plan done, at least.

But that meant-

“Haggar is already here,” Keith muttered. Lance looked at him, damn that boy could read his mind. “We actually have to hurry, where’s the trap door?” Lance looked at Fluffy and looked for her middle head. He quickly found it and noticed the trap door under it. “I’m going to move her head, you lot back me up in case she wakes up,” Keith said.

Lance followed Keith as back up. Keith slowly went in between the right and middle head and began to gently push the head aside. The problem was, the head was at least two times the size of Keith. And fitness levels had shown Lance that Lance was actually the stronger of the two, but Keith had more practice. So he sighed before joining Keith and pushing. Even Hunk and Pidge pitched in by slowly opening the trap door when the head moved away.

It was safe and quiet.

Wait.

It was quiet.

Lance looked up to see that Fluffy had woken up, all six pupils directed at them. Lance knew that Fluffy wasn’t trained to keep students safe, she was trained to protect the Crystal at all costs. Even if it meant killing students in the process. That was why Lance did the only thing he could do. Which was-

“ _Despacito_ _  
_ _Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito_ _  
_ _Deja que te diga cosas al oído_ _  
_ _Para que te acuerdes si no estás conmigo_   
Despacito!”

He heard Pidge groan and Hunk let out a heavy sigh, Keith looked confused. But, it worked. Fluffy was out like a light. Fortunately, she fell into her deep sleep away from the trap door so they wouldn’t have to struggle to move it. He let out a sigh. That wasn’t that bad. Well, they got lucky. If Lance hadn’t known that Fluffy would fall asleep to music, they could have been dead. He was so lucky he overheard that conversation on Christmas! Thank you, God, for making Lance a moron to sneak out at night and breaking the rules!

“I don’t get what’s so bad,” Keith whispered to Pidge and Hunk. “His voice was amazing. Why are you giving him dirty looks?”

“His voice is amazing,” Hunk sighed.

“It’s just the song,” Pidge grumbled. “I vote for Lance to jump through the trap door first for that terrible show of song choice!”

Too late!

Keith had already jumped in!

Lance sighed in exasperation before doing the same. Curse Keith and his tendencies for being impulsive. He was sliding down a tunnel until he fell into some kind of large plant. It encompassed him and he could hear Pidge and Hunk falling down the tunnel. Pidge landed safely outside the plant’s range with Keith but Hunk had the terrible luck of joining Lance in the clutches of the plant.

“Is this Devil Snare?” Lance gasped. The vines were slowly encircling him, tightening around him. It was only a matter of time until they would stop oxygen from getting into his body. He was so panicking now. He couldn’t see Hunk very well but he could hear him struggling with all those whimpers and grunts.

“I think it is,” Pidge said. “I’m trying to remember what I need to kill it with!” Lance could see her mind racing. He knew she was panicking too. And people don’t really do well under pressure. Except for Lance. Thank you, ADHD!

“It likes damp and dark places!” Lance supplied before a vine wrapped around his mouth. His eyes widened, he hadn’t even realised that could happen. He took deep breaths through his nose and tried to calm the fire that drove through his veins.

“FIRE!” Hunk gasped out. “LIGHT IT ON FIRE!” And his mouth was also encompassed with a vine or two.

“Uhh…” Pidge muttered, she was really bad under pressure. Wait, she was also now 11! She was the youngest out of all of them! Lance felt a slight pang towards her at this moment. She was getting no help! Because all of them couldn’t speak except for Keith. Wait-

“I’M USING MY DAMN WAND!” Keith raged. “YOU LOT ARE SERIOUSLY MAKING ME ALMOST THROW UP, HERE!” He pointed his wand in their general direction and let out a blaze of red, hot, flames. Lance braced himself for the fire but nothing around him sent any jolts of pain. Well, except for that non-stopping one. But, nothing from that fire. Huh, Keith had said he learnt a few spells from Shiro? Maybe this was one of them?

Lance gasped for air as he and Hunk were freed. “Guys, I’m just saying, I feel like crying into a corner right now,” Hunk said but he didn’t go do it. Lance felt that way, too. He had faced death twice in the space of 5 minutes! He was seriously going to be very traumatised from this!

“Keith, what was that spell?” Pidge asked. “I want you to teach me that,”

“It’s a spell that converts all your passion and love into a fire,” Keith explained, “It shouldn’t hurt those you care for.”

“Awe,” Lance teased. “Is that prove that you actually care for us?”

“That is so sweet!” Hunk said. “I’m so glad that I didn’t die in a blaze of glory. That would just say you hated me.”

“Hunk,” Keith said, “Who would hate you?”

“True,” Hunk grinned.

“Hunk, you have been spending way too much time with Lance, shut up,” Pidge groaned. “I feel so mad that I was so useless! I’m meant to know so many things but they just flew out of my mind when I needed them!”

“Pidge, I know how it feels,” Lance said. “It just proves you’re human. Of course, you would panic and forget. I only remembered because I’m crap at not cracking under pressure,”

“Enough with this sappy talk!” Pidge muttered with an embarrassed flush. She always hated it when people thought of her as a weakling, Lance never thought that. Pidge knew that. Lance knew she knew that. “Let’s carry on!” She trudged forwards with them following close behind her. They were silent, not in an awkward sort, but in a tense sort. They were listening to see if they could hear Haggar or make out what the next protection was before they arrived there. Hunk was visibly shaking and Lance was proud of him for wanting to carry on with this journey.

There was a sort of flapping sound echoing through.

“Is it a dragon?” Keith asked in awe.

“No, what the hell? Those are illegal, they’d have to get a lot of permission for that. And notify the students. So, no, there are no dragons,” Pidge said in a confused face. “But, I have to agree, what is that noise? A pixie or something?”

“Watch it be a dragon,” Hunk sighed. “It’s always something we doubt would be here!”

They were wrong.

They entered a chamber that was so vast that it reminded Lance of a cave. The roof of the chamber couldn’t be seen and Lance was hit by the fact that they must be very deep down in the Earth. The thing that really got him was the fact that keys were flying. And it wasn’t a weird dream. Or a prank. The keys each had an individual pair of wings and were whizzing by. What the hell?

“Are you all seeing what I’m seeing?” Lance asked. “Because I think I’m going crazy,”

Hunk got hit by one of the flying keys in the cheek. “Nope, it’s real. Ow.”

“There’s a broom!” Pidge pointed out. “We’re all good at flying, but who should go at it? And why are we meant to fly?”

“There’s a door right there,” Lance pointed out. “We’re probably meant to find the correct key and jam it in.”

“Then go find it,” Hunk pressed the broom into Lance’s hands. No. This wasn’t going to do. This isn't even guilt that was stopping him. If he went on the broom, it wouldn’t work. He was a Beater. A Player that was made for reckless moves and banging into people. This was meant to be a type of mission that needed grace and a swift flyer, not someone that was as bulky as Lance. And Lance knew the right person to do it.

“Keith, take it. Remember how I said you’d be an awesome Seeker? Prove me right,” Lance said before pressed the broom into Keith’s hands. Keith was short, that was part of the reason he was meant to be a seeker. He was strong and everything, but you would never know it from looking at him. His body was slight but strong and would qualify him for this. He would zip by and grab that key in no time! If Lance had done it, he would have banged his body in places he didn’t know even existed! And Keith was a born seeker from what Lance could tell from their Flying lessons!

Keith grinned as he mounted the broom before lifting off. He was zipping after a key before Lance even blinked. From what Lance could see, he was aiming for a silver key. It was zipping around slower than the others and the wings that were attached were tattered. It was the only one that was remarkably different than the others in the chamber. Lance watched in awe and Keith reached out his hand and grabbed the key as he rolled off the broom and onto the floor. Keith made it so he would grab the key and not injure himself. That was one great Seeker in the making!

Keith huffed as he stuck the key into the lock before opening it. The door swung open and Hunk stared at him in shock. “Dude, that was, like, 30 seconds. I wouldn’t even have noticed that key.”

“Are you sure you don’t need glasses?” Pidge asked with raised eyebrows.

“Guys, the next room is so totally mine.” Hunk said after entering it. Lance raised an eyebrow before entering it. It was his worst damn nightmare. He heard Keith groan. He heard Pidge squeal. So, here’s the thing. It was a very large version of chess. Wizarding Chess. The one that Lance and Keith suck at. Yeah. That. Lucky that Hunk was such a champ at it. Pidge was decent but was nothing close to what Hunk was. Hunk was legendary in other things than his cooking.

“How are we even meant to play this?” Lance mused.

“I think we’re meant to be the chessmen,” Pidge said in a questioning tone. None of them decided to bet against her and went onto their own individual pieces. Hunk had made a beeline to the Knight piece with a smug face. The rest of them stood on three empty spots. Damn. Lance felt so short compared to these chess pieces. He looked down at Pidge.

He felt better.

“White always goes first,” Hunk said as the opposite side made their first move. A pawn moved two forwards. Hunk guided a few of their pieces forwards to battle the invisible opponent. “Lance, go diagonal four to your right.” Hunk said distractedly. He seemed way too happy for playing with their lives. Then the thing happened. THE THING!

The White Queen had _destroyed_ their other knight!

DESTROYED! The knight fell into dust and pieces, rubble lying on the spot where it was. The dust flew around before finally settling down. Lance wasn’t the only one tense, now. He could feel it. “ARE YOU GOING TO KILL US? BUDDY, I LOVE YOU. BUT. NO. I TRUST YOU, THOUGH!” Lance cried out.

“I had to let that happen,” Hunk sighed. “Stop being so dramatic.”

“Keith, go to where the Bishop was,” Pidge instructed. She seemed to have recovered from her earlier panicking. She was even grinning. These two were insane. They were having fun! Lance looked over to Keith, who was moving, and he was shaking. Lance looked down to even notice that he was shaking and sweating beyond compare. Well, he did almost died twice in a row a while ago. Maybe a third if this kept up.

They were almost near the end when something went terribly wrong.

The white Queen turned to face Hunk. “Yeah, I guess it is the only way. Try not to hurt me much,” Hunk got a blank look back. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. I’ll just...hold my breath?”

“NO!” Lance, Pidge, and Keith yelled. Lance had just barely noticed what was going on before it actually happened.

“It’s the only way, Lance!” Hunk said with a teary face. He was an honourable man. Lance could remember all those times he and Hunk messed about in the library, staying in Matt’s office to leave sweets for him. They both would always help other students together in their classes. They confided in each other. Hunk was just this big, trembling kid that was afraid of walking in Diagon Alley when Lance had first met him. Lance knew so many more things about him! Hunk wanted to become the best chef! He wanted to be recognised as brave! He was good with mechanics, he was in love with the stars. He was no longer just plain afraid, too scared to stop doing what he wanted.

And he was doing this to prove it.

“Don’t hang around after this is done, give Haggar a big final for me, please?” Hunk asked weakly. He turned to face the Queen. Lance began to take a step forward as one Knight on the opposing team directed a sword at him to keep in place. He watched tearfully as the Queen struck Hunk on the head. He screamed along with his friends as a sickly sound came out of Hunk as he fell limp against the floor.

The game was over.

Lance sprinted over to where Hunk was and he and his friends helped lug Hunk to the side. Lance watched in pale shock as a dribble of blood ran from Hunk’s head. But, he seemed to be knocked out. He should be fine, right? He should wake up in no time and get himself to safety, right?

“What if he’s-” Pidge began.

“He’ll be alright,” Keith said with stubborn determination. “He’s Hunk. When did a single hit ever put him down? He’s faced tougher. What do you think is next?” They all knew that what he said was true but they were still worried.

“We’ve had Coran as the Devil Snare, we’ve had Coran again as Fluffy. That guy has way too many dangerous stuff at hand. Allura as that flying test. That was smart. That leaves…”

“I’ve heard that the other two are Sendak and Haggar.” Keith supplied. “When I hang with Shiro, I tend to hear things. Well, I eavesdrop, but he doesn’t have to know that.”

“I bet Sendak’s one is crap,” Pidge said, “Like he is. What kind of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher actually like the Dark Arts? Why is he even teaching it?”

“He could be the one that’s stealing the Crystal,” Hunk said.

“But he’s _against_ the Dark Arts,” Keith said. “And we saw Haggar that one night with the Unicorn. I think.”

“Well, we’re about to find out.” Lance sighed as they walked forwards.

They walked into a chamber that stank.

The walls were covered in some kind of ooze that made Lance gag. And there was a troll. Of course, there had to be a troll! OF DAMN COURSE! He heard Keith give a short gasp of surprise and Pidge groan. Lance just stood frozen in his spot as the creature trudged towards them. He snapped out of his daze and leapt to the side in time.

“Confuse it!” Lance yelled. He and Keith looked at each other before they both ran in opposite directions and started yelling random facts about water. The troll looked in both direction, confused as he didn’t know which direction to go in to attack. “Pidge! We’ll need a plan!” He yelled. He sure as hell didn’t think of anything at the moment.

“Make it let go of its club!” Pidge yelled. Lance watch Keith jump onto the monster’s back and climb up to the creature’s shoulders. Keith stabbed his wand into the creature’s eyes and Lance shot fire into the monster’s legs, making it jump and cry out. The troll dropped its club as Pidge cried out “Wingardium Leviosa!” and the club levitated mid-air and she swung her wand, making the club swing onto the troll’s head and knocked it out. “GET OUT!” Pidge screeched and they all ran to the next room.

This was Haggar’s!

It was full of potions!

Well, there were only 7.

But, still!

Pidge picked up a note before sighing.

 

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

_Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,_

_One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

_Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line._

_Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,_

_To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

_You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side;_

_Second, different are those who stand at either end,_

_But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;_

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

  


“That rules out the ones at the very end. You know, the ones at each end.” Keith said.

“Keith, that was so easy, there was no point in saying that out loud,” Lance teased. “It’s like saying that giant black one has no poison in it. It obviously does because it says in the riddle!”

“Whatever,” Keith grumbled.

“The second and sixth one is the nettle wine, it also says that in the riddle,” Pidge sighed.

“That leaves the one on the far right to be the one that sends us back,” Lance said.

“Why?” Pidge asked.

“Because the ones at each end don’t let us go forwards. We found all the nettle wine, and two poisons.” Lance said, “Because the poisons are to the left of the nettle wine. AKA, the first and fifth ones are the poison. By default, the one at the far right should be the one that sends you back as it doesn’t let you go forward.”

“Then, that small one is the one that sends us back because it shouldn’t kill us, and that one in the middle is the last poison!” Pidge gasped. “Lance, were you meant to be in Ravenclaw? Why the hell are you not in here?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Lance lied. The hat had said he could have been placed in any house. It was only after a slight pause did the hat send him into Gryffindor. He had been thinking about that moment since it had happened. He could seriously have been put in any. ANY! But it was Gryffindor the Hat had chosen for him. He really wanted to ask someone why.

“You little tease,” Keith sighed. “Fine, play dumb. Let’s see. The one that lets us go forwards...Seems like only two of us can go forward with this amount. And the one that lets us go back only seems to have enough for one.”

“This is crap.” Pidge hissed, Why can’t we all go in?”

“Wait,” Lance said. “We need one of us to go back and get Hunk and notify Shiro when he comes back. We need backup and everything!”

“But, which one of us stays and goes?” Keith asked. “I’m not leaving. You can’t even pull me away from leaving.” Keith said. Pidge and Lance exchanged looks. Lance knew Keith wasn’t going to budge. He was way too ambitious, always wanting to set things right. Always headfirst into danger.

“I’ll go back,” Pidge sighed after a moment of hesitation. “You two are the best in DADA, you two have a shot in this. I’ll get Hunk and help. Just…” She grabbed both of them into a stuffy hug. “Don’t you dare die. I need test subjects for the rest of the years here. I need someone to nag about exams. You need to do your exams as well, it’s in a few months.” Pidge whispered as she let them go. She yanked the potion and took a swig, not even looking back as she walked through the fire.

“You ready?” Lance asked as he took a hold of the potion. “I mean, it’s not every day where you get pushed into a life-threatening situation. If Zarkon is in there, we’re going to try and give him a thrashing, okay?” Lance said. “I’m a great sharpshooter.” He was. He was great with fighting long distances with his wand. “And you’re an amazing Samurai,” Lance grinned. Keith was amazing with short distances. He could get up close and kick the life out of you. Lance had been in that position, once.

“I’m ready,” Keith grinned, “Drink the potion and give it to me,”

Lance took a swig of it before handing it to Keith who drank the rest. Lance held out his hand to Keith who grabbed it without any hesitation. It wasn’t in fear of dying or for whatever they found out there. It was a bad habit that they would never grow out of. It was mostly to reassure Lance that this was really happening. He had come all this way, not really thinking this was much before this moment. But, he wasn’t that nervous. With all that he had been through his entire life, this wasn’t much.

His 6th birthday was crashed by the evil lord himself. His father’s death was on his birthday and he couldn’t celebrate it without thinking of that purple flash of light that sent him into fits of anger and tears. He had watched as Zarkon had turned into a puff of smoke and flew in the air. He had rushed to his father’s side and tried to wake him up. Only for his mother to explain to him that his father wasn’t going to wake up any time soon.

He had seen the corpse of a pure creature. An innocent death for the prolonged life of an evil being. He had been shaking in his shoes, holding onto Keith and Hunk, trying not to gasp for air in fear that he would make a sound. He had smelled death again on that day. And it didn’t change the fact that he would mourn for the Unicorn.

He had come this far, there was no backing out.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️


	12. Next Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End.

It wasn’t Haggar on the other side.

It was Sendak.

“Yeah, Keith, he was against the Dark Arts,” Lance mumbled under his breath. Keith shot him a glare. Sendak hadn’t noticed them yet. He was staring at a mirror and mumbling to himself. He wasn’t too focused on his surroundings as he was really focused on Sendak. IT WASN’T EVEN ZARKON! WHAT THE HELL!

“You!” Keith yelled, catching Sendak’s attention. “Why-How is it you? Why isn’t it Haggar?”

“Well, being the DADA teacher kind of automatically makes you a good guy, doesn’t it?” Sendak said with a glint in his eyes. He was toying with them. “And Haggar is really unpopular, isn’t she? Why wouldn’t you suspect her?”

“Was that you in the forest that night?” Lance demanded. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t really see the figure’s precise shape or size. He must have really wanted it to be Haggar if he had forgotten that fact.

“Well, of course!” Sendak said. “Now let us take a better look at this mirror!”

It was the Mirror of Erised.

“Trust Shiro to come up with this,” Sendak muttered. “The Mirror is the key to getting the Crystal. But how do I get it?” He stared at the Mirror. “I see myself giving the Crystal to my Lord, but how do I get it?”   
  
“But Haggar hates us so much!” Lance protested. Lance remembered all those times Haggar had snapped at Keith and him. She had made them redo many potions out of pure spite. What the hell? This was really getting to Lance.

“Duh!” Sendak sighed and turned to them. “She hated your parents after some weird prank that they pulled on her. They all loathed each other. Now, shut up. How do I get the Crystal for my Lord….” He muttered to himself.

“And just where is your Lord?” Hissed Keith. Sendak turned to face them with a maniacal grin. It was hard not to feel dumb for not suspecting him. His purple eyes were alight with glee at the thought of his so call Lord.

“My Lord is always with me,” Sendak said cryptically, “He was always here with us in this school. I was always a loyal servant to him. Never liked Alfor. This Shiro can be easily manipulated if my Lord wanted him, as well.” Lance watched as Keith clenched his fists. Sendak turned to face the Mirror once more. “I don’t understand how to get the Crystal out!” He hissed in frustration.

“Use the boys…” A soft, sultry voice whispered through the air. Lance gripped Keith’s hand even tighter as the pain throughout his body went up another voltage. Keith was gritting his teeth, trying to brave his way through the pain.

“True,” Sendak muttered, “Boys, come here.” They didn’t have much choice as he shoved them in front of the mirror. “Tell me what you see.” He used his hands to shove their faces to look at the Mirror against their wills. Sendak hissed in pain.

Mirror Lance was still holding Mirror Keith’s hand, like real Lance and Keith. The only difference was the fact that Lance was holding a ragged crystal. It had a slight silvery glow to it and looked so small. But it looked so magnificent. The sight of it made Lance want to take a photo of it. It was so pretty and his fingers itched for his phone that he left behind. Mirror Keith seemed to say something to Mirror Lance and Mirror Lance put the Crystal into his pocket.

Lance didn’t signify that he felt the Crystal in his pocket. “I see myself with Gucci.” Lance laughed. “I think I even have flawless skin.”

“I also see myself with my parents,” Keith lied. “We’re all so damn happy.”

“They lie…” The whisper said and Lance jerked as another jolt of pain zapped through his body. Keith even let out a whimper and a gasp. Lance’s knees buckled and he fell on his knees, Keith only able to hold himself up by leaning on Lance. What the hell was going on? The pain was blinding. It felt like his blood was on fire. “Let me speak to them...Let me see them...Let them see me…”

Sendak didn’t hesitate before turning around. He quickly took off his beanie and Lance gasped for air. It felt like the wind was getting knocked out of him. Keith fell to his knees next to him, but they never stopped making eye contact with Zarkon’s face which was engraved at the back of Sendak’s.

“What the hell…” Lance whispered in disgust as Keith hummed in agreement.

“Boys...Lance McClain...Keith Kogane…” It whispered. “See what I have become? This mess! Keith may have weakened me when I tried to kill him, and I might have been even more weakened by killing you, I still lived!” Lance’s head was spinning. He knew this was a possibility, But. No? He knew Zarkon had still been weak when he had attacked Lance, but he had hoped that he had died. But he always knew that there was a chance that Zarkon was still alive.

“You look disgusting…” Lance said in awe. How could someone look so disgusting? Lance could see his pores and a small pimple near the mouth. What the hell? Lance felt offended. Death didn’t excuse someone from looking their breath. “You’re so ugly…”

“Nicely said,” Keith said. “The creep couldn’t have looked any better when he was alive.” Lance grinned at him through the pain.

“LISTEN!” Zarkon demanded. “Turn out your pockets! Or you will meet the same fate as your parents!”

“That’s a sick move,” Lance said in disgust. “You are as ugly on the inside just as the out.”

“Seize him!” Zarkon demanded. Sendak whipped around and launched to attack. Lance and Keith both scrambled to their feet before making a run for it. Lance turned around to see if they were a safe distance away. They were.

Lance pointed his wand at Sendak and yelled “Aguamenti!”. A fountain of water shot out of Lance’s wand in an endless stream and he shot the water at Sendak’s face. He willed the pressure to rise and hoped it would be enough to drown the man or at least buy him some time to think. Sendak paused to splutter and tried to sidestep the spell but Lance turned his wand to move the water.

“Incendio!” Keith cried out and a great burst of flame shot out of his wand and hit Sendak from behind. It was pretty funny to see. The spells would have put each other out if directed at each other, but it was working nicely. Sendak was being burnt from behind and being drowned from the front. But it wasn’t long before Lance’s spell wore off. Lance made a run for it as Sendak ran forth as well, Keith’s spell also wearing off.

“Sectumsempra!” Sendak cried out and pointed his wand at Lance. Lance doubled over and spat out blood. Well, this was obviously going very well. Not only was he feeling this never ending pain because of the presence of Zarkon, but he was also in pain like a sword had gutted him. This was going great.

“Stupefy!” Lance and Keith yelled in unison, pointing their wand at Sendak as Sendak pointed his wand at Keith and yelled “Locomotor Mortis!”

Keith’s legs bound together and he fell head first onto the concrete. Keith fell limp against the floor. The pain, the running, and his head hitting the floor must have caused him to pass out. Sendak moved all his attention onto Lance. Lance was kneeling on the floor, gasping and staring at Keith in shock. Sendak moved towards Lance and hissed in pain once he tried to come in contact with Lance.

“Sectumsempra!” Lance whispered weakly but it was enough. But all his energy was sucked out of him. He watched as Sendak fell onto the floor and a black glow rose out of him. Lance’s head hit the floor and the darkness hit him.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

Lance literally jumped awake.

The blood rushed to his head and he groaned. His chest was in pain, his head was in pain, everything was in PAIN. He couldn’t even open his eyes without feeling it was burning. He took deep breaths in before easing against the headboard of the bed he was on. He must have been in the infirmary. He could tell because he could feel the tightness of the bandages around his body.

“Lance, lay down. You seriously don’t want to pass out again, do you?”

That must be Shiro.

Lance opened his eyes in a daze. “How long has it been?” He asked in a hoarse voice.

“Three days, this would be the fourth.” Shiro shrugged. “We postpone the games. But I doubt we’d like you to play for the rest of the year. You’ll need recovering.”

“Shiro, shut up. Your voice is giving me a migraine.”

That would be Keith.

“I see you both are now awake,” Shiro sighed. “I would have liked this one by one. But, whatever. Life already hates me.”

“WAIT!” Lance yelled before launching into a coughing fit. “WHAT ABOUT THE CRYSTAL?”

“AND SENDAK! AND-” Keith cried out.

“ZARKON AND THE MIRROR!” Lance cut him off.

“Seriously, I would have preferred this one at a time!” Shiro sighed.

Coran came in with a few medical supplies and hauling Keith out of bed. “We need to renew the bandages,” Coran muttered. He took Keith behind a door and closed it.

“Fate has corrected me,” Shiro said, “I got one!” He said happily. Lance looked around the room. There were many beds and the light was bright in here. But the things that really got to him was the fact that the beds around Keith and his were surrounded with presents. “Gifts from the school. You can’t actually keep anything a secret here, so they found out.”

“Can you...can you explain what happened on your side? It looks like you already know what happened on mine,” Lance sighed.

“Well, I was sent to London. Well, I got a letter about going there. Turns out it was sent by Sendak. Like to get me out of the way. I got Pidge and Hunk’s letter on my way there so I turned around and rushed here. When I arrived at where you were, you two were passed out, Sendak was dead, and Zarkon was gone. The Crystal destroyed…”

“What about Flamel?” Lance questioned. He just killed a man, didn’t he? He killed Sendak. And now since the Crystal was gone, Flamel would be killed along with his wife! He felt sick.

“He and his wife will get their affairs in order. They were thinking it was about time. You can think of it as a well-deserved sleep. You  _ did  _ do your research very well,” Shiro said softly.

“Well, we couldn’t have gone very far without knowing who he was, could we?” Lance laughed. “Sir, I have a question…”

“Uh, say it?” Shiro said.

“The Sorting Hat. It could have put me in any House. But it put me in Gryffindor. It actually said I could have gone to any house. But I’m obviously not much of a Gryffindor, am I?” Lance said in a shaking voice.

“Bravery, loyalty, unwavering care for others. How many times this year had you done everything selflessly? You made sure every one of Keith’s friends gave him a present at Christmas. You surprised me with Adam. You let Matt play his pranks. You made Allura happy by joining the team. You let Sam be happy with his classes because you love it so much. You make Coran babble all day about how enthusiastic you are. You made friends with misfits. Pidge was accepted early and you didn’t discriminate. Hunk was so afraid, and you befriended him and let him grow out of his shell. You befriended Keith and finally allowed him to feel home could feel safe.” Shiro said.

“Why couldn’t Sendak touch me? I don’t think he could touch Keith much either. He always just hissed in pain,” Lance asked.

“When Zarkon had come to Keith’s birth, he had tried to kill him. But his father had died before that. His mother was left. She sacrificed herself for her son because she loved him. So when Zarkon tried to attack Keith, it weakened him. 6 years later, he had realised there was another boy he needed to kill. You.” Lance shivered. “Your father sacrificed himself because he loved you and his family. So when the weakened Zarkon tried to kill you, it weakened him further. It took him a while to get his body into Sendak.”

“And?” Lance prompted.

“Love,” Shiro said softly. “Zarkon is so full of sins that he cannot fathom the idea of love. He cannot touch anything so pure. He had killed the Unicorn to prolong his life and heal him. He cannot touch either of you because you are protected by love.”

“What about Professor Haggar? Sendak said Keith and my parents hated her.” Lance said.

“It’s true,” Shiro said, “From what I can tell, your parents did something so bad that Haggar can’t take it.”

“What?” Lance blanched.

“They saved her life,” Shiro said in a whisper.

“How about how I got the Crystal?” Lance questioned.

“I feel so smart for thinking about this,” Shiro said smugly. “See, only people who really wanted the Crystal for not using it could get it. So lucky you actually could get it out.”

Keith entered the room. He was groaning and Coran looked smug. Keith rolled his eyes before easing into his bead. He sat on against the headboard and pulled the covers up to his lap. “He kept making bad jokes,” Keith said tiredly as Coran left the room. “And I heard everything here. Shiro, you are so sappy.”

“Well, I did have a sweet a while ago.” Shiro shrugged. “Go back to sleep. Coran will probably dress up as a nurse the next time you see him.”

They both groaned.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

The rest of the year flew by.

Lance was salty that he couldn’t go on the team for Quidditch. He really wanted to join. But, he could tell they were winning! So, it didn’t grind on him that much. But, there were a few ups and downs. Like, when they were finally able to leave, Hunk and Pidge had tackled them into a hug. Which had resulted in the two going back to get their wounds closed again? Many people would hush as Lance and Keith walked by. Lance would indulge in at from time to time, but it didn’t seem right. He  _ did  _ almost die. Keith just ignored it all and glared at anyone who would come near him that weren’t his friends.

Exams were another thing.

Pidge had set them all schedules for revision and Lance barely kept up with it. But he had passed with flying colours in most subjects. He got by with solid grades in others. He had not failed in any. Which surprised him. He thought he would have failed Potions because of Haggar’s prejudice against him. Even Keith passed. Maybe she wasn’t that bad?

NAH.

And Veronica.

She wouldn’t even look at him. She would avoid being in the same room as him and make sure that at lunch, they were as far away from each other as she could manage. She wasn’t even proud of his actions from saving the school. She would always just look at him with a betrayed look. And slowly, she just wouldn’t look at him anymore. It was like they are strangers. It hurt Lance. The most important thing to Lance was other people. Especially family. And she was acting as if they had never met. It made it hurt to look at his ring. But, he kept it on. The ring wasn’t only given by Veronica. It was given by the rest of his family.

It was finally the End of Year Feast.

Lance was sitting with Sebastian and Poppy, grinning away with their jokes and waiting patiently for the teachers to let them eat. He made sure to check on his friends every now and again using his peripheral vision.

Lance wouldn’t say he was completely okay right now.

His body still ached in areas and he was excused from Flying classes. During Quidditch practices, he was forced to watch and take notes. The team had to constantly use substitutes who weren’t specialising as Beaters. He had to have regular check-ups by Coran and he could still feel the pains. One of the more scarier things were sleep. During exam period, he was too exhausted for his insomnia to compete with and he slept.

And woke up screaming.

Let’s say nightmares should stay a nightmare. And come nowhere near his reality.

Shiro went to the front of the platform and cleared his throat. “This year has been very eventful! I think a few congratulations should be given by now! For the Quidditch Cup, the winner is…” The whole room held their breath. All Muggleborns began to make a drumroll using their hands on the table and their laps. Lance and others joined in. “GRYFFINDOR!” Lance sighed in happiness before grinning. “But, we have to give them an extra applause as their team had to use subs for the entire year! And they still won by a landslide!” Shiro grinned. “And for the House Cup…” He said as a drum roll began. “In Fourth Place is Ravenclaw with 3048 points! Third Place goes to Hufflepuff with 3559. Second goes to…” Lance made eye contact with Keith and gave him a supportive smile. “...Slytherin! With 4805!” Woah, that was a load of points! “And the winner is GRYFFINDOR WITH 5355!” OKAY,  _ THAT  _ WAS A LOT OF POINTS.

“But, I believe there are a few more points to give in,” Allura smiled sweetly.

“100 points to Ravenclaw, for Pidge’s great knowledge of going through Haggar’s potions and the game of chess!” Matt grinned with a victory pose.

“100 points to Hufflepuff for Hunk’s bravery, thirst for bravery, more like it, and his amazing game of chess with his sacrifice!” Coran said smartly.

“150 points to Slytherin for Keith’s magical ability, his fight with the Dark Lord, his survival, and his amazing demonstrations of getting through the entirety of the protection spells!” Haggar said weakly.

“200 points for Lance. He has shown great compassion and loyalty throughout the trials. He could have accepted death many times, he could have left his friends, but didn’t. He showed great capability in the real world with his knowledge, bravery, compassion, cunningness,” Allura smiled at him.

“But that is not all! One person had stood up to them for the sake of everyone else! She was willing to put a stop to her brother to save everyone else. Veronica, 75 points for standing up to your friends. For standing up to what you believe in is right!” Shiro said.

“So, Gryffindor still wins?” Lance asked Poppy and Sebastian.

“YEE!” Sebastian grinned and Poppy slapped his shoulder.

“YOU MAY ALL NOW EAT!” Shiro grinned.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

It was the final day, the day for them to leave.

Lance packed all his things in his duffel bag. Then realised he would need more space because he got more stuff through the year. He had asked Sebastian for an extra bag and promised to send it back once Lance got home. “Dude, you want this?” Sebastian asked as he showed Lance their miniature version of Hogsmeade. It was all done and painted as well. Lance would even say it was an exact copy!

“What if we just…” Lance pointed his wand at it and he was seeing double now. AKA, he just made a duplicate. “And…” He made both the size of a jellybean, pocket size! “And then enlarge it when we get home, okay?” Lance asked hopefully.

“Dude, I’m going to miss you. Who am I going to poke painfully in the ribs?” Sebastian teased. “Wait, that came out wrong. I mean, who am I going to mess...wait…”

“Bruh, I get it,” Lance grinned. “Ima miss you, too. Which is why you have to give me your house number. Give.” Sebastian obeyed with a goofy grin. “Now, tell me all about your summer whenever you can. Tell me about Poppy, too! I bet you two are going to the beach, am I right? I feel like you are that basic.”

“I think I regret saying I’m going to miss you…” Sebastian sighed. “Wait, I don’t. Don’t worry.”

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

 

They got off the Hogwarts Express.

“Guys, text me whenever. Keith, you can use our owls and stuff. I don't want to hear any excuses!” Lance said dramatically.

“Sure,” Pidge grinned. “I’ll tell you all about me becoming smarter by the second.”

“I’ll send memes,” Hunk sighed.

“I’ll print the memes and send them to Keith,” Lance said.

“I’ll look up what a meme is,” Keith sighed.

They all messed about for another ten minutes. They were trying to stall for time. The only people living close to each other in their group was Lance and Hunk. Keith wouldn’t tell them where his crappy Orphanage was and Pidge lived in deep in the city. Unless Lance was willing to stay with her for a week, he wouldn’t get to see her for a week. Or Keith.

One by one, each of them left.

It was only Keith and Lance left.

“Buddy, I feel like such a jerk for not actually becoming your friend in the first place. I guess I should have tried harder,” Lance said. He was reading his story diary and realised how much of a prick and moron he had been. Keith must have thought he was weird and bullying him. Which he technically was.

“Hey, no worries,” Keith said softly. “I was the one that started it by thinking everyone is just plain mean. But, we’re okay now.”

“We are,” Lance grinned. “How come you don’t know what a meme is? Even I know what it is, and I’m as pureblood a pureblood can get without being a prick.”

“No WiFi,” Keith summarised.

“I will kidnap you from that hell hole and give you a new angle of life with WiFi,” Lance said breathlessly. “Kidding, but I’m planning on getting you to visit. I will spam Shiro. Owls seem to find people easily. I will spam Shiro with thousands of letters to get you to visit me.”

“You won’t need to. I bet he’d shove me to your house before even replying. He really is wanting me to get that whole friend experience,” Keith laughed. “I’m guessing that’s your family?” Keith asked nervously and jerked his chin. Lance followed his gaze and his eyes brightened.

“You want me to introduce you or…?” Lance would never do anything without Keith’s permission.

“Next time? I can see Shiro waiting for me, too. Next time.” Keith said.

“Next time.” Lance smiled back.

 

♦️♦️♦️Klance♦️♦️♦️

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading this! The second book will be coming out shortly! Thank you!


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